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R.  B.  MATTHEWS 

.  .  rt   _    f*        .     j  »^  »y^  ft'V  10805  Deshire  Place 

U  C  S  B        L  !  D  Krt  K  T  Culver  City,  California 


;,u**> 


THE 


IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL, 


CONSIDERED    IN    THE    LIGHT    OF    THE 


HOLY  SCRIPTURES, 


THE    TESTIMONY    OK 


REASON    AJNTD    MATURE, 


AND    THE    VARIOUS    PHENOMENA    OP 


LIFE   AND   DEATH. 


"Immortality  o'orsweeps 

All  pains,  all  tears,  all  time,  all  fears ;  and  peals 
Like  the  eternal  thunders  of  the  deep, 
Into  my  heart  this  truth — THOU  LTV'ST  POR  EVEK  !" — BnRotr. 


REV.  HIRAM JiATTISON,  A.M., 

AUTHOR  OF  "DOCTRINE  OF  THE  TRINITY,"  AND  VARIOUS  ASTRO- 
NOMICAL AND   MUSICAL  WORKS. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
PERKIXPINE   &    HIGQINS, 

No.  56  NORTH  FOURTH  STREET. 
1804. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864,  by 
HIRAM   MATTISON, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Eastern  District 
of  Pennsylvania. 


WESTCOTT   t   THOMSON,   STEREOTTPER8. 
C.  SHERMAN,  SON  4   CO.,   PRINTERS. 


CONTENTS. 


PART   FIRST. 

SCRIPTURE   DOCTRINE    OF    IMMORTALITY. 
CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Philosophical  Distinction  between  Matter  and  Spirit 11 

CHAPTER  II. 

Matter  and  Spirit  Distinct — Scripture  Testimony 18 

CHAPTER  III. 
Two-fold  Mature  of  Man— A  Spirit  in  a  Body 22 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Souls  not  Pre-existent,  nor   Supplied  by  Immediate  Creation,  bnt 

Propagated 29 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Nature  of  Death 42 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Conscious  existence  of  Souls  between  Death  and  the  Resurrection.     54 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  alleged  Sleep  of  the  Soul  between  Death  and  the  Resurrection.     73 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  "  Intermediate  State,"  or  the  Place  of  Souls  between  Death 

and  the  Resurrection 95 

3 


4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PAG* 

Immortal  Existence  not  a  Result  of  Faith  in  Christ 121 

CHAPTER  X. 
Supposed  Annihilation  of  the  Wicked  at  the  Day  of  Judgment 131 

PART    SECOND. 

RATIONAL    EVIDENCES    OF   A    FUTURE    LIFE.    • 

CHAPTER  I. 
Character  and  Value  of  the  Rational  Argument 147 

CHAPTER  II. 

Indications  of  Another  Life  in  the  Structure  and  Phenomena  of 
the  Natural  World 154 

CHAPTER  III. 
Argument  drawn  from  the  General  Belief  of  Mankind 163 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Relation  of  Man  to  the  Lower  Animals 180 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Immortality  of  the   Soul   inferred  from  the  Structure  of  the 

Body  in  which  it  dwells 185 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Dominion  of  the  Soul  over  the  Body 193 

CHAPTER    VII. 
Unequal  Development  of  the  Mind  and  Body 203 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Energy  of  the  Soul,  in  oases  where  Physical  Organs  are  wanting...  209 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Unimpaired  Mental  Powers  under  Bodily  Mutilation 214 


CONTENTS.  5 

CHAPTER  X. 

PAGE 

Reverie,  Sleep,  Dreaming,  Catalepsy 219 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Vigor  of  the  Soul  in  the  Hour  of  Death 232 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Dissolution  of  the  Body  affords  no  ground  for  the  Presump- 
tion that  the  Mind  perishes  with  it 238 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Argument  drawn  from  the  Indestructibility  of  Matter 245 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Soul  Immaterial,  and  therefore  Immortal 250 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Powers  of  the  Soul — Memory 258 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Powers  of  the  Soul  continued — Rapidity  of  our  Mental  Processes.  277 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Powers  of  the  Soul  continued — Capabilities  of  Improvement,  and 

Vast  Achievement 285 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Immortality  inferable  from  the  Nature  of  our  desires 294 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Moral  Nature  of  Man — Conscience,  Remorse,  Ac 307 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Our  continued  Love  for  the  Dead  a  proof  of  Immortality 322 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Natural  Emblems  of  the  Soul's  Departure  at  Death 330 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Summary  of  the  Argument,  and  Practical  Conclusions 340 


0  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

MM 
Consolation  for  the  Bereft  and  Sorrowing 354 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Glorious  Prospects  before  the  Dying  Christian 361 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
Closing  Appeal  to  the  Unconverted 372 

Appendix 381 

Index  of  Scripture  Quotations 387 

Index  of  Poetic  Quotations 391 

General  Index...  393 


PREFACE. 


THE  work  here  presented  to  the  public  is  the  result  of  more 
or  less  reading,  thought  and  preaching  upon  the  subject  for 
the  last  twenty-five  years.  At  first  the  few  facts  and  argu- 
ments in  possession  were  embodied  in  a  single  discourse, 
upon  what  we  have  styled  the  Rational  Evidences  of  a  future 
life.  As  we  still  read  and  thought  upon  the  subject,  and 
preached  upon  it  once  or  twice  every  year,  revising  with  each 
delivery,  the  single  sermon  soon  expanded  into  three ;  and 
finally  into  a  course  of  Six  Lectures,  covering  most  of  the 
ground  traversed  in  the  present  volume.  THese  Lectures 
were  delivered  in  the  several  churches  of  which  the  writer 
was  pastor,  and  elsewhere,  with  apparent  interest  and  profit 
on  the  part  of  the  people  ;  and  as  their  publication  had  been 
repeatedly  called  for,  it  was  decided  as  early  as  1856  to 
issue  them  in  their  present  form,  should  it  please  God  to 
spare  the  life  of  the  writer  till  it  could  be  accomplished. 

After  a  delay  of  years,  and  amid  the  onerous  duties  of  a 
city  pastorate,  we  have  at  length  embodied  the  matter  of 
these  Lectures  in  book  form,  committing  our  thoughts  and 
illustrations  to  the  enduring  pago,  in  hope  that  we  may  thus 
not  only  reach  many  whom  we  should  never  see  face  to  face, 
but  may  thus  still  preach  on  when  the  living  voice  is  hushed 

forever  in  death. 

7 


8  PREFACE. 

And  yet,  let  it  be  distinctly  understood,  that  the  following 
chapters  are  not  sermons.  With  the  exception  of  the  last  two 
or  three,  no  one  would  suspect  from  their  form  or  style  that 
their  author  was  a  clergyman,  or  that  the  matter  of  the  book 
had  ever  been  embodied  in  pulpit  discourses.  Every  para- 
graph has  been  re-written ;  and,  so  far  as  we  art-  aware,  not  a 
trace  of  their  former  sermonic  aspect  remains. 

The  order  of  the  argument  is  different  from  that  of  any 
other  work  upon  the  subject  with  which  we  are  acquainted. 
Believing  with  Mr.  Watson,  that  without  a  revelation  from 
God,  either  oral  or  written,  we  could  have  no  knowledge 
of  a  future  state,  we  have  placed  the  Scripture  argument  in 
the  foreground,  where  we  think  it  logically  and  rightfully 
belongs ;  using  the  Rational  argument  only  as  a  collateral 
support  and  elucidator  of*the  grand  and  glorious  revelation 
from  God.  Our  reasons  for  this  order  are  given  at  the  com- 
mencement of  Part  Second. 

The  style  of  the  work  is  designedly  plain  and  simple. 
Although  we  trust  it  may  repay  perusal  even  by  the  student 
and  the  theologian,  it  was  written  for  the  farmer,  the  me- 
chanic, the  apprentice,  the  young  Christian,  and  especially 
for  the  young  minister  whose  opportunities  for  study  have 
been  limited,  and  to  whom  books  upon  the  subject  are  seldom 
accessible.  And  yet  we  claim  for  the  book  a  good  degree  of 
originality ;  not  only  in  the  arrangement  of  its  matter,  but 
also  in  its  arguments  and  illustrations. 

The  Poetic  (Jnolntinns  embodied  in  the  work,  add  greatly 
to  its  value.  Many  of  them  are  exceedingly  pertinent  and 
beautiful,  and  will  be  new  to  most  of  our  readers.  They  are 
the  gatherings  of  thirty  years,  from  a  great  variety  of  sources ; 
and  as  we  know  not  the  authors  of  many  of  them,  npr 
whence  we  obtained  them,  we  have  omitted  all  quotation 
marks  and  credits  in  the  body  of  the  work,  now  sayinu; 


PREFACE.  9 

here,  instead,  that  none  of  them  are  original  with  the  writer. 
Most  of  them  will  be  easily  identified  by  persons  familiar  with 
the  poets. 

To  the  friends  of  our  youth  and  early  manhood — fellow 
Christians  and  fellow-laborers  of  other  years — who,  like  the 
writer,  begin  to  mark  the  lengthening  shadows  of  life's  fleet- 
ing day,  and  to  look  for  the  opening  of  the  eternal  gates — to 
all  such  we  proffer  here  once  more  our  Christian  salutation. 
We  shall  meet  but  few  of  you  again  in  this  world ;  but  hope 
to  greet  you  finally  in  that  "better  country,"  where  decay  and 
death  are  unknown,  and  where, 

The  dirge-like  sound  of  parting  words, 
Shall  smite  the  soul  no  more. 

The  plate  fronting  the  title  is  an  excellent  copy  of  a  photo- 
graph taken  in  April,  1864.  It  is  inserted  in  the  belief  that 
in  the  estimation  of  some  it  may  add  interest  to  the  volume, 
and  as  a  tribute  of  affection  and  remembrance  to  many 
cherished  earthly  friends,  scattered  here  and  there  over  the 
fields  of  our  former  itinerant  labors,  but  whom  we  expect  to 
meet  no  more  in  this  world.  It  may  not  be  an  unwelcome 
souvenir  to  some  while  we  yet  live ;  and  may  be  valued  by 
others — kindred  in  the  flesh  and  beloved  brethren  in  Christ — 
as  a  memorial  of  our  former  earthly  being,  when  we  have  left 
earth  and  time  forever.  For  we  would  not  be  forgotten  here, 
either  while  we  live  nor  after  our  "departure."  May  we 
meet  again  in  peace  beyond  the  grave  ! 

And  now.  grateful  to  Heaven  that  life  and  strength  have 
been  granted  us  to  complete  the  work,  and  commending  it  to 
God  in  the  language  of  the  prayer  with  which  it  closes,  we 
consecrate  it  to  the  future.  May  it  cheer  and  encourage  the 
Christian,  establish  the  wavering,  console  the  bereft  and 
sorrowing,  convince  the  unbeliever,  awaken  the  thoughtless 


10  PKKFACK. 

and  unconcerned,  and  bring  sinners  to  God,  when  the  hand 
that  wrote  it  has  crumbled  back  to  dust ! 

II.  MATTISON. 
NEW  YORK,  Aug.  5,  1864. 

NOTE. — It  is  the  author's  purpose,  should  life  and  health 
permit,  to  prepare  a  similar  volume  upon  The  Resurrection 
of  the  Dead,  to  be  followed  by  another  upon  The  Heavenly 
World,  and  still  another,  upon  the  subject  of  Future  Punish- 
ment. Should  a  gracious  Providence  favor  this  design,  it  is 
hoped  that  the  entire  four  volumes  may  be  issued,  in  uniform 
style,  as  early  as  January  1867  at-  the  latest. 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL. 


PART  FIRST. 

SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE  OF  IMMORTALITY. 


CHAPTER   I. 

PHILOSOPHICAL   DISTINCTION   BETWEEN   MATTER    AND 
SPIRIT. 

I.  THE  term  matter  is  a  generic  term  applied  to 
all  substances,  of  which  we  have  knowledge  by  our 
natural  senses.     Whatever  is  visible  or  tangible,  or 
has    form   or   color,  or  odor,  or   may  be   heard,  or 
smelled,  or  tasted,  or  which  we  may  control  or  direct 
by  material  agencies,  is  justly  denominated  a  material 
substance. 

II.  But  our  knowledge  of  matter  is  confined  wholly 
to  its  properties,  some  of  which  are  revealed  to  one  of 
the  senses,  and  some  to  another.     We  may  have  sen- 
sible evidence  of  the  form  and  color  of  a  substance, 
but  of  the  ultimate  particles  of  which  it  is  composed, 
we  know  nothing  beyond  their  qualities  or  attributes. 

III.  As  a  general  rule,  the  peculiar  properties  of 
the  various  species  of  material  objects   adhere  tena- 
ciously   to   their    original    substances.       We    cannot 
change  lead  into  gold,  or  silver  into  iron.     This  fact 
justifies  the  belief,  that  while  each  is  alike  material, 
there  is  an  essential  difference  in  the  ultimate  particles 
of  which  these  substances  are  composed;   or,  in  other 

11 


12  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SoUL. 

words,  that  the  properties  of  gold,  &c.,  are  due,  not  to 
the  adventitious  circumstances  of  arrangement  or 
chemical  combination,  but  to  the  very  nature  of  their 
ultimate  elements. 

IV.  As  gold,  and  iron,  and  lead,  and  silver,  are 
known  by  their  distinguishing  and  peculiar  proper- 
ties, so  matter,  under  whatever  form,  and  with  what- 
ever   special  qualities,   is   known    to  possess  certain 
general  properties,  which  it   possesses   under  every 
form,  and  under  every  circumstance  of  combination. 
These  properties  are  termed  essential,  because,  so  far 
as  we  know,  matter  does  not  and  cannot  exist  without 
them. 

V.  The  fact  that  matter  under  certain  forms  has 
but  one  or  two  properties  by  which  it  can  reveal  itself 
to  our  senses,  while  in  other  cases  it  has  many  such 
properties;    affords  no  ground  for   the  presumption 
that  matter  ever  exists  without  any  such  qualities. 
Such  a  presumption  is  not  only  contrary  to  all  observa- 
tion and  experience,  and  to  all  the  analogies  of  nature, 
but  is  both  contradictory  and  absurd ;   in  that  it  as- 
sumes the  existence  of  a  substance,  of  whose  existence 
it  is  impossible,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  that  we 
should  ever  have  any  knowledge. 

VI.  We  have  said  that  material  substances  are  known 
only  by  their  properties;    and  that  the  number  of 
qualities  revealed  to  the  senses,  varies  in  different 
substances.     An  orange,  for  instance,  is  yellow  and 
round  to  the  sight;  fragrant  to  the  smell;  smooth  and 
soft  to  the  touch;  sweet  to  the  taste;  and  may  be  heard 
as  it  falls  from  the  hand,  or  from  the  bough  upon 
which  it  grew.     It  thus  addresses  all  of  our  senses. 
But  the  atmosphere,  which  is  as  truly  material  as  gold 


DISTINCTION    BETWEEN    MATTER   AND    SPIRIT.       13 

or  marble,  can  only  be  heard  and  felt.  We  can 
neither  see  nor  taste  nor  smell  it.  Those  qualities, 
therefore,  which  appeal  to  these  latter  senses,  cannot 
be  essential  properties  of  matter. 

VII.  Light,  caloric,  electricity  and  magnetism,  find 
their    appropriate    classification,    as    material    sub- 
stances: for  though  they  have  but  few  of 'the  qualities 
of  matter,  as  generally  found  to  exist,  they  are  never- 
theless more  or  less  subject  to  mechanical  laws,  like 
the    more  gross  and    ponderable  substances.     Light 
may  be  evolved,  reflected,  refracted  and  analyzed,  so 
as  to  separate  its  component  rays.      Calorie  may  be 
generated,  transferred  and  divided.     Electricity  may 
be  collected,  transferred  and  divided;  and  magnetism 
can   be  divided   and    transferred.     Thus,   though  in 
some  respects  as  unlike  solid  matter  on  the  one  hand, 
as  thought  or  spirit  on  the  other,  all  these  subtile 
essences,  and  all  others  of  their  class,  bear  the  image 
and  superscription  of  materiality.     No  one  of  them 
has    consciousness    or   knowledge,   will    or    memory; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  their  subjugation   to  me- 
chanical laws,  proclaims   them   as  belonging    to  the 
material  world. 

VIII.  The  same  general  law  which  enables  us  to 
identify  a  substance  as  material,  enables  us  also  to 
identify  each  particular  species  of  material  substances. 
For  instance,  we  have  learned  by  observation  and  ex- 
perience, that  a  certain  metallic  substance  is  yellow 
and   very  heavy;    that    it   melts    at    a    certain    tem- 
perature ;   is  very  malleable  and  ductile,  and  is  not 
easily  corroded.     This  substance  we  call  gold.     When- 
ever, therefore,  we  find    a  substance   possessing  all 
these  qualities  and  none  other,  we  pronounce  it  gold. 


14  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    >"1  L. 

And  so  on  through  all  the  realm  of  nature.  All 
^cations  and  all  science  are  based  upon  this 
law  of  agreenment,  or  disagreement  in  qualities.  If 
we  find  a  substance  with  all  the  properties  of  copper 
and  no  others,  we  are  logically  obliged  to  classify  it 
as  copper,  unless  we  are  prepared  to  unsettle  the 
foundation  of  all  science,  and  of  all  human  know- 
ledge. 

IX.  Ascending  from  species  to  genus,  whenever 
we  find  a  substance,  however  subtile  or  attenuated, 
that  exhibits  one  or  more  of  the  properties  of  matter, 
and  is  evidently  subject  to  one  or  more  of  the  laws 
of  the  material  world,   we  are   constrained  to  pro- 
nounce it  a  material  substance ;  however,  it  may  differ 
in  its  qualities  from    matter  in    many  other   forms. 
We   may   not   demand   the   hardness    of   steel,    the 
weight  of  platinum,  or  the  brilliancy  of  the  diamond, 
before  we  pronounce  it  material.     It  is  enough  that 
it  is  known  to  possess  one  quality  knoAvn  to  belong 
exclusively   to   material   substances ;    or   that    it   is 
subject  to  one  law  to  which  matter  only  renders  obe- 
dience. 

X.  But  if,  for  example,  in  the  course  of  our  investi- 
gations, we  were  to  find  a  substance  exhibiting  all  the 
properties    of  gold,  with    the  additional    quality  of 
transparency,  we  have  found  a  new  metal.     That  one 
additional   quality  places    it    outside  of   all  existing 
classifications,  and  calls  for  the  recognition  of  a  new 
species. 

Such,  then,  is  the  great  law  which  pervades  the 
whole  realm  of  nature,  and  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
all  human  knowledge.  To  ignore  it,  is  to  discard  all 
physical  science,  and  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  light  re- 


DISTINCTION  BETWEEN  MATTER  AND  SPIRIT.        15 

fleeted,  through  the  medium  of  science,  from   all  the 
works  of  God. 

XI.  But  we  have  come  to  know  of  a  class  of  quali- 
ties, or  attributes,  or  phenomena,  that  are  not  known 
to  belong  to  matter  in  any  of  its  existing  forms.     In- 
telligence,  reason,  judgment,   memory,   consciousness, 
reflection  and  hope,  are  not  known  to  belong  to  mat- 
ter ;  and  upon  the  same  principle  that  we  create  a 
new  species  in  science,  when  we  find  in  any  substance 
or  object,  an  assemblage  of  qualities  before  unknown ; 
the  development  of  intelligence,  reason,  &c.,  demands 
the  recognition  of  a  corresponding  essence,  different 
from  matter,  to  which  these  attributes  may  be  re- 
ferred.    For  as  all  properties  of  matter  imply  a  basis 
or  ultimate  substance  to  which  they  belong,  and  of 
which   they  are  properties;   so  reason,  memory  and 
reflection,  necessarily  imply  an  ultimate  essence  to 
which  they  belong,  and  to  which  they  may  be  referred. 
And  if  the  difference  in  ultimate  essences  corresponds 
with  the  difference  in  their  qualities,  and  phenomena, 
(as  we  have  reason  to  believe,)  then  the  difference  be- 
tween the  essence  which  exhibits  intelligence,  memory 
and  reason,  and  that  which  exhibits  only  extension, 
color  and  divisibility,  must  be  as  great  as  the  differ- 
ence in  their  properties  respectively.     The  ultimate 
entity,  therefore,  which  exhibits  extension,  color  and 
form,  must  be  essentially  different  in  its  very  nature, 
from  that  which  exhibits  reason,  hope  and  memory. 
There  is  a  broad  gulf  between  them — an  immovable 
boundary  that  neither  can  pass. 

XII.  To  that    ultimate    essence,  therefore,   which 
exhibits  consciousness,  intelligence,  memory,  will,  and 
reason,  we  give  the  name  of  SPIRIT.     As  we  may  not 


16  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    riOUL. 

refer  the  properties  of  silver  to  a  piece  of  iron ;  so  we 
may  not  refer  the  properties  of  spirit  to  any  material 
basis. 

The  properties  of  matter  and  spirit  respectively, 
are  essential  characteristics  of  the  respective  essences, 
to  which  they  belong.  Copper  cannot  be  iron,  be- 
cause it  has  not  the  peculiar  properties  of  iron,  and 
has  a  set  of  distinguishing  properties  of  its  own ;  and 
iron  cannot  be  copper  for  the  same  reason.  So  of 
matter  and  spirit :  matter  cannot  be  spirit,  because  it 
exhibits  none  of  the  properties  of  spirit,  and  has  its 
own  distinguishing  properties;  and  spirit  cannot  be 
matter,  because  it  has  none  of  the  properties  of  mat- 
ter, and  has  an  assemblage  of  distinguishing  attributes 
of  its  own. 

Here,  then,  is  the  basis  of  the  first  grand  division 
of  the  universe;  namely,  into  MATTER  and  SPIRIT.* 
On  the  one  side  of  this  infinite  boundary  line,  are 
GOD  and  angels,  and  the  spirits  of  men;  and  on  the 
other  side,  all  things  material,  whether  animal,  vege- 
table, or  mineral;  organic,  or  inorganic;  fluids,  or 
bolids ;  atoms,  worlds,  or  systems.  The  former  con- 

*"So  far  as  the  researches  of  philosophy  extend,  there  are  but  two 
primary  substances  in  the  universe,  and  these  are  MATTER  and  SPIRIT. 
All  we  know  of  these  substances,  is  certain  properties  and  phenomena 
which  they  exhibit.  Matter  is  known  to  possess  the  properties  of  im- 
penetrability, extension,  figure,  divisibility,  indestructibility,  attrac- 
tion. Spirit  is  that  which  thinks,  perceives,  remembers,  reason?,  wills, 
and  is  susceptible  of  love,  hatred,  joy,  and  grief.  The  former  of  these 
properties  are  found  in  our  bodies,  in  common  with  all  other  matter; 
the  latter  constitute  the  phenomena  of  the  mind.  It  is  not  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  properties  so  opposite  to  each  other,  inhere  in  the  sann- 
substance,  and  the  only  rational  conclusion  is  that  matter  is  not  mind, 
and  that  mind  is  not  matter."  Lee't  Tkeoloyy,  p.  257. 


DISTINCTION    BETWEEN    MATTER   AND    SPIRIT.       17 

stitute  the  spiritual  and  the  latter,  the  material  uni- 
verse. 

Such  is  the  teaching  of  all  true  philosophy,  and 
such  we  shall  find  to  be  the  verdict  of  Divine  Reve- 
lation. 
2 


18  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 


CHAPTER   II. 

MATTER  AND  SPIRIT  DISTINCT — SCRIPTURE  TESTIMONY. 

ASSUMING  the  Divine  Inspiration  and  infallible 
authority  of  the  Christian  Scriptures,  we  shall  now 
proceed  to  show  that  they  everywhere  recognize  the 
philosophical  distinction  between  MATTER  and  SPIRIT, 
and  the  two-fold  nature  of  man. 

I.  "  GOD  is  a  SPIRIT."  So  taught  the  Great 
Teacher.  John  iv.  24.  The  same  is  taught  2  Cor. 
iii.  17,  "Now  the  Lord  is  that  Spirit" — and  wherever 
the  Spirit  of  God  is  spoken  of  throughout  the  Bible. 
Not  that  God  has  a  spirit,  as  if  his  spiritual  nature 
was  united  with  another  nature  more  gross  and 
material;  but  that  he  is  a  spirit — immaterial,  uncom- 
pounded,  and  indivisible ;  and  unconnected  with  bodily 
form' or  organs. 

The  same  is  implied  wherever  we  are  taught  that 
God  exists  in  all  places,  at  the  same  time,  or  fills  im- 
mensity with  his  all-pervading  presence.  "Behold, 
heaven,  and  the  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  contain 
thee."  1  Kings,  viii.  27.  "Whither  shall  I  go  from 
thy  Spirit?  or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence? 
If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there;  if  I  make 
my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art  there.  If  I  take  the 
wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  sea;  even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me, 
and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me."  Psa.  cxxix.  7-10. 


MATTER    AND    sl'lKIT    DIST1  l!» 

"Do  not  I  fill  heaven  and  earth,  saith  the  Lord?" 
•Jer.  xxiii.  24.  Now,  unless  a  material  being  can 
have  infinite  extension,  or  universal  presence,  the 
omnipresence  of  God  is  impossible  to  him,  as  a 
material  being.  Hence,  to  assert  his  omnipresence, 
is  virtually  to  assert  his  spirituality.  On  the  other 
hand,  to  materialize  the  Deity,  is  not  only  to  adopt  a 
fundamental  principle  of  Pantheism,  but  also  to  deny 
his  omnipresence  ;  either  of  which  is  equivalent  to  the 
denial  of  his  existence. 

Upon  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  then,  we  affirm 
that  in  Crod  himself  we  have  a  glorious  specimen  of 
purely  spiritual  existence — an  all-wise,  all-powerful, 
everywhere  present  SPIRIT,  without  hody,  or  material 
organs.  The  existence,  therefore,  of  at  least  one 
purely  spiritual  being,  conscious,  intelligent,  and 
active,  cannot  be  denied  without  denying  the  existence 
and  spirituality  of  the  Godhead.* 

II.  THE  HOLY  ANGELS  ARE  SPIRITS.  This  is 
taught  Psa.  civ.  4.  "Who  maketh  his  angels 
spirits,"  &c., — and  is  cited  by  St.  Paul,  Heb.  i.  7, 
as  being  spoken  of  "the  angels  of  God."  As  God  is 
a  spirit,  immaterial,  invisible,  and  unembodied,  so 
his  angels,  who  stand  in  his  presence,  and  do  his 
pleasure,  hearkening  unto  the  voice  of  his  word,  are 
spirits  also.  Like  Jehovah,  the  Father  of  spirits, 
they  may  have  power  to  impress  the  natural  senses, 

*It  is  no  valid  objection  to  this  argument  that  Jehovah  has  sometimes 
manifested  himself  to  the  bodily  senses  of  man,  as  when  he  has  been 
-  a  flame  of  fire,  or  a  human  form,  or  a  cloud,  or  a  dove ;  or  heard 
as  a  human  voice.  Such  manifestations  furnish  no  ground  for  the  as- 
sumption that  God  has  a  bodily  form,  or  material  existence;  but  simply 
that  he  has  condescended  to  manifest  himself  to  the  senses  of  men,  in  a 
few  instance?,  for  wise  and  beneficent  purposes. 


20  IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

for  the  purpose  of  communicating  with  mortals,  as  they 
have  done  in  a  few  instances;  but  this  in  no  way  de- 
tracts from  the  idea  of  their  pure  spirituality.  For 
even  the  Infinite  Spirit  has  at  times  seemed  to  have 
form,  and  has  spoken  to  man  "fa,ce  to  face."* 

III.  THE  FALLEN  ANGELS  or  DEVILS  are  also  SPIRITS. 
They  were  once  obedient  and  holy;  but  "they  kept 
not  their  first  estate."  Jude  6.  And  though  they 
"sinned,"  and  were  "cast  down  to  hell,"  2  Pet.  ii. 
4;  and  though  Christ  saw  Satan  fall  as  lightning 
from  heaven,  Luke  x.  19;  this  dire  fall  did  not 
change  their  essential  nature  as  spirits.  Hence,  they 
are  spirits  still;  and  are  merely  characterized  as 
"evil  spirits,"  "unclean  spirits,"&c.,  throughout  the 
New  Testament.  And  hence  the  facility  with  which 
they  could  come  out  of,  and  enter  into  human  bodies, 
already  the  abode  of  one  human  spirit.  Though  no 
two  drops  of  water,  or  particles  of  gas,  can  occupy 
precisely  the  same  space  at  the  same  time,  we  have 
reason  to  think  it  is  far  different  with  spirits ;  for  in 
the  case  of  Mary  Magdalene,  out  of  whom  the  Re- 
deemer cast  seven  devils,  Mark  xvi.  9;  there  were 
no  less  than  seven  of  these  "evil  spirits,"  as  Luke 
calls  them,  viii.  2;  and  one  human  soul  in  one  body, 
at  the  same  time.  And  in  the  case  recorded,  Luke 
viii.  26—36,  one  man  had  a  "legion"  of  these  "un- 
clean spirits"  in  him  at  the  same  time;  for  "many 
devils  were  entered  into  him."  If  there  was  one  for 

*  "  Whatever  is  actually  seen,"  says  Archbishop  Whately,  "  or  pre- 
sented to  any  of  the  senses,  whether  natural  or  supernatural,  must  of 
course  be  material  :  but  a  like  effect  may  be  produced  on  the  mind  (as 
we  experience  in  the  case  of  imagination  and  dreaming,  and,  as  we 
read,  in  the  case  of  visions,)  without  the  presence  (aa  far  as  we  know) 
of  any  material  object."  Future  State,  p.  59. 


MATTER   AND    SPIRIT   DISTINCT.  21 

each  of  the  swine,  into  -which  they  entered,  there  were 
not  less  than  two  thousand  in  one  human  body,  Mark 
v.  13.  And  this  was  possible  only  because  though 
devils,  they  were  still  spirits,  like  the  unfallen  Sera- 
phim, and  like  God,  their  all-perfect  Creator.* 

The  Holy  Scriptures  thus  plainly  teach  us  that 
there  are  in  the  universe  these  three  classes  of  purely 
spiritual  beings — GOD,  who  is  a  spirit;  the  Holy 
Angels;  and  the  Fallen  Angels,  or  Devil*.  And  if 
one  is  material,  so  must  the  other  be.  They  are  all 
"SPIRITS;"  and  as  such  cannot  be  bodies. 

*  Mr.  Geo.  Storrs,  a  noted  advocate  of  annihilationism,  virtually  ad- 
mits that  the  fallen  angels  are  spirits.  When, speaking  of  their  final 
annihilation,  he  says,  "  How  indescribably  tremendous  must  be  that 
wrath  which  shall  utterly  consume  A  SPIRIT;  a  wrath  so  tremendous 
that  even  MIGHTY  ANGELS  utterly  perish  under  it."  Six  Sermons,  p.  34. 


22  IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 


CHAPTER   III. 

TWO-FOLD   NATURE    OF    MAN — A    SPIRIT   IN   A   BODY. 

IN  the  two  previous  chapters  we  have  seen  that 
matter  and  spirit  are  distinct  essences;  and  that  to 
deny  the  existence  of  pure  and  unemhodied  spirits,  is 
not  only  to  discard  the  very  foundations  of  all  true 
science,  and  contradict  the  plainest  teaching  of  the 
Scriptures,  but  to  materialize  the  Deity.  We  have 
also  seen  that  the  angels,  both  fallen  and  unfallen, 
are  spirits  also,  like  Jehovah  himself.  Thus  we  have 
not  only  proved  the  reality  of  the  distinction  between 
matter  and  spirit,  but  have  adduced  whole  classes  of 
specimens  of  purely  spiritual  existences.  Leaving  these 
points,  therefore,  as  incontrovertibly  established,  we 
.shall  now  proceed  to  show  that  man,  also,  has  a 
purely  spiritual  nature,  distinct  from  the  body  in  which 
it  dwells,  and  therefore,  capable  of  a  separate  and  con- 
scious existence,  when  the  body  is  dissolved. 

By  distinct,  we  mean  of  an  entirely  different 
nature.  As  electricity  is  distinct  from  the  body  in 
which  it  may  exist,  and  light  is  distinct  from  the 
crystal  through  which  it  passes,  and  every  part  of 
which  it  pervades ;  so  the  spirit  of  man,  though  now 
in  the  body  is  distinct  from  it;  and  as  capable  of 
separate  existence  without  a  body,  as  electricity  is 
'without  a  conductor,  or  light  without  a  telescope. 


MAN  S    TWO-FOLD    NATURE.  23 

True  philosophy  and  revelation  are  always  in 
harmony.  As  we  might  expect,  therefore,  the  Holy 
Scriptures  every  where  recognize  the  philosophical 
distinction  between  matter  and  spirit*  and  the  two-fold 
nature  of  man.  The  following  passages  may  be  taken- 
as  examples: — 

I.  Numbers  xvi.  -'2,  and  xxii.  -1 :  God  is  declared 
to  be  the  "God  of  the  spirits  of  &\\  flesh."     But  what 
can  this  language  mean,  if  "  spirit"  and  "flesh"  are 
the  same?  or,  in  other  words,  if  man  has  no  "spirit" 
or  soul  distinct  from  the  material  body? 

II.  Job  iv.  18,  19.     "Behold,  he  put  no  trust  in 
his  servants ;  and  his   angels  he  charged  with  folly. 
How  much  less  in  them   that  dwell  in  houses  of  clay, 
whose   foundation   is  in  the  dust,  tvhich  are  crushed 
before  the  moth?"     In   this  passage  the  soul  is  as 
clearly  distinguished  from  the  body,  as  the  occupant 
of  the  house  is  distinguished  from  the  house;   and  to 
confound  the  spirit  with  the  body,  would  be  to  affirm 
that  the  house  and  he  who  dwells  in  it  are  essentially 
the  same. 

III.  Job  xiv.  22.  "But  his  flesh  upon  him  shall 
have  pain,  and    his    soul  within    him  shall  mourn." 
Here  the  "flesh"  and  "soul"  are  distinct — the  flesh 
is  "upon  him,"  or  envelops  the  soul:  while  the  soul  is 
"within  him,"  or  in   the  body.     And  these  two,  the 
"flesh"  without,  and  the  "soul"  within,  constitute  the 
man. 

IV.  Job  xxxii.  8.    "But  there  is  a  spirit  in  man, 
and  the  inspiration  of  the   Almighty  givcth  him  un- 
derstanding."    Here  the  "spirit  in  man"  is  plainly 
distinguished    from    the    physical    man,   in  which    it 
dwells.     And   "understanding"  instead  of  being  re- 


24  IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

cognized  as  a  result  of  mere  animal  organization,  is 
expressly  attributed  to  "the  inspiration  of  the 
Almighty," — the  animating  of  a  mortal  body  with  its 
tenant  spirit. 

V.  Isa.  xxxi.  3.  Now  the  Egyptians  are  men,  and 
not  God;  and  their  bones  flesh  and  not  spirit.     Here 
the  distinction  between  flesh  and  spirit   is  as  plainly 
marked,  as  that  between  man  and  God ;   and  we  may 
quite  as  reasonably  confound  the  creature  man  with 
his  Creator,  as  to  confound  flesh  with  spirit. 

VI.  Zech.  xii.  1.    The  Lord  stretcheth  forth  the 
heavens,  and  layeth  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  and 
formeth  the  spirit  of  man  within   him.     Here   the 
same    doctrine   is   inculcated.       The    "spirit   within 
man,"  and  the  "man"  which  the  spirit  is  "within,"  are 
as  distinct  as  the  house,  and  the  tenant  within  the 
house. 

VII.  Rom.  viii.  16.    The  Spirit  itself  beareth  wit- 
ness with  our  spirit,  that  we  are  the  children  of  God. 
Here  the  term  "spirit"  is  applied  to  both  God  and 
man  in  the  same  passage,  as   if,  in  one  nature,  man 
was  as  much  a  spirit  as  his  Maker.     If,  then,  this  is 
not  the  case,  what  can  such  language  mean? 

VIII.  1  Cor.  ii.  11.    "For  what  man  knoweth  the 
things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  man  which  is   in 
him?  even  so  the  things  of  God  knoweth  no  man,  but 
the  Spirit  of  God." 

As  the  seat  of  knowledge  in  man,  is  not  in  the  flesh 
and  bones,  nor  even  in  the  brain,  but  in  the»"  spirit" 
"which  is  in  him;"  so  "the  things  of  God"  are  con- 
fined to  the  infinite  mind;  and  can  no  more  be  fully 
understood  by  man,  spirit  as  he  is,  than  "the  things 
of  a  man,"  can  be  understood  by  his  material  body. 


MAX'S   TWO-FOLD    NATURE.  25 

The  distinction  between  the  human  body  and  soul 
is  most  obvious,  and  the  parallelism  of  the  text  most 
striking. 

IX.  1  Cor.  vi.  20. — "For  ye  are  bought  with  a 
price;    therefore,  glorify  God  in  your  body,  and  in 
your  spirit,  which  are  God's." 

In  this  passage,  the  "body"  and  "spirit"  are  so 
clearly  distinguished,  that  no  comment  can  make  it 
more  plain. 

X.  2  Cor.  iv.  16. — "For  which    cause    we    faint 
not ;   but  though  our  outward  man  perish,  yet  the  in- 
ward  man   is    renewed    day    by    day."     Now   what 
could  the  apostle  have  meant  by  the  "outward  man," 
if  it  was  not  his  body?    and  what  by  the  "inward 
man,"  if  it  was  not  his  soul?     How  can  such  scrip- 
tures be  reconciled  with  the    Materialists  idea,  that 
man  has  no  soul  distinct  from  his  material  body? 

XI.  "I  knew  a  man  in  Christ  above  fourteen  years 
ago,  (whether  in  the  body,  I  cannot  tell;   or  whether 
out  of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell:   God  knowcth;)  such 
an  one  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven.     And  I  knew 
such  a  man,  (whether  in  the  body,  or  out  of  the  body, 
I  cannot  tell:  God  knoweth;)  how  that  he  was  caught 
up  into  paradise,  and  heard  unspeakable  words,  which 
it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter."    2  Cor.  xii.  4. 

On  the  supposition  that  St.  Paul  was  a  Materialist, 
and  did  not  believe  in  the  existence  of  the  human 
spirit,  distinct  from  the  body,  what  could  he  have 
meant  in  the  above  passage,  by  "in  the  body,"  and 
"out  of  the  body?"  He  must  certainly  have  known 
that  he  was  not  "out  of  the  body,"  if  such  a  thing 
was  impossible.  But  he  held  to  the  true  philosophy — 
that  in  his  normal  state  he  was  a  spirit  "in  the  body;" 


26  IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

but  there  was  yet  another  state,  in  which  it  was  possi- 
ble for  him  to  exist;  namely,  that  of  separation  from 
the  body.  In  which  of  these  two  states  he  was  caught 
up  to  the  third  heaven,  he  could  not  tell. 

XII.  The  history  of  the  creation  of  the  first  man, 
Genesis  first  and  second  chapters,  shows  conclusively, 
that  he  was  created  as  a  compound  being,  consisting  of  a 
material  body  and  an  immaterial  soul.  "And  God  said, 
Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness:  and 
let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and 
over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over 
all  the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth.  So  God  created  man  in  his 
own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him ;  male 
and  female  created  he  them."  Here  we  have  the 
general  fact  asserted,  tliat  the  Infinite  Spirit  created 
man  in  his  own  image.  He  must  therefore  have  had 
a  spiritual  nature,  unless  the  offspring  of  "the  Father 
of  spirits"  was  simply  a  material  being,  and  at  the 
same  time,  "in  the  image"  of  that  God  who  is  a  spirit. 
The  order  of  events,  or  exact  process  of  his  creation, 
is  more  fully  described  in  the  second  chapter,  verse 
7th.  "And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust 
of  the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath 
of  life;  and  man  became  a  living  soul."  Mark  the 
order  of  events  as  here  stated. 

First,  The  Lord  God  "formed  man  of  the  dust  of 
the  ground."  This  was  of  course  a  material  nature — 
his  body.  There  it  lay,  perfect  in  all  its  parts,  but 
cold  and  motionless.  The  bones,  and  muscles,  and 
tendons,  and  veins,  and  heart,  and  arteries,  and  brain, 
and  nerves,  and  lungs,  and  eyes,  and  ears,  were  all 
in  place  and  ready  for  action;  but  as  yet,  there  was 


MAN'S    TWO-FOLD    NATURE.  27 

no  consciousness,  nor  sensation,  nor  life,  nor  motion. 
The  heart  had  never  throbbed,  nor  the  lungs  respired. 
The  brain  could  not  think,  nor  the  nerves  feel.  The 
eye  could  not  see,  the  ear  hear,  nor  the  palate  taste. 
And  why  not?  Was  not  the  animal  organism  perfect 
and  complete?  And  if  thought  and  reason  are  the 
result  of  animal  organization  alone,  vrhy  could  not  the 
brain  have  thought,  the  nerves  felt,  and  the  eyes 
seen?  What  need  of  the  "breath  of  life"  to  set  this 
wonderful  machinery  in  motion?  But  there  was  no 
life,  no  motion,  no  intelligence.  The  eye  could  no 
more  see  of  itself  than  a  refracting  telescope.  The 
ear  could  no  mor-e  hear  than  a  metallic  ear  trumpet. 
The  quenchless  fires  of  the  immortal  nature  had  not 
yet  been  kindled.  The  intelligent  conscious  spirit 
was  not  yet  thera.  The  "man"  formed  of  "dust"' 
was  as  yet  a  mere  human  body,  inanimate  and  lifeless. 
The  second  step  in  the  process  of  creation,  was  the 
vivifying  or  animation  of  this  man  of  dust.  God 
"breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life."  This 
act  was  plainly  the  infusion  or  inspiration  of  a  spiritual 
nature  into  the  material  body.  It  was  not  the  im- 
parting of  a  merely  animal  life — it  was  more.  Dr. 
Adam  Clarke,  like  most  other  Hebrew  critics,  renders 
the  passage,  "nishmath  chaiyim,  the  breath  of  LIVES, 
i.  e.,  animal  and  intellectual."  Benson  renders  the 
phrase,  "the  soul  of  lives,"  and  the  author  of  the 
"Literal  Translation  from  the  Hebrew,"  renders  the 
pa»age,  "and  Jehovah  Elohim  formed  a  very  man  of 
dust  of  the  ground,  and  blew  into  his  nostrils  the 
LIVING  SPIRIT,  and  man  was  for  a  living  creature. 

*  For  a  somewhat  elaborate   discussion   of  this  point,  see   Jewish 
Chronicle  for  1852,  p.  57. 


28  IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

Not  only  did  animal  life  then  begin,  but  also  that 
higher  life  in  which  consisted,  in  a  great  measure,  the 
image  of  his  Maker.  He  was  but  a  body  before ;  but 
has  now  become  "a  living  SOUL."  Thus  God  "gave" 
man  his  spirit,  Eccl.  xii.  7,  so  that  henceforth,  "there 
is  a  spirit  in  man :  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty 
giveth  them  understanding."*  Job  xxxviii.  8. 

Thus  the  history  of  the  creation  of  Adam  shows  as 
plainly  as  language  can,  that  both  his  animal  and  in- 
tellectual "lives"  began  with  the  union  of  the  spiritual 
nature  with  a  material  body.  We  thus  learn  synthe- 
tically what  man  is,  by  ascertaining  his  component 
essences,  and  the  history  and  circumstances  of  their 
union.  The  same  conclusions  will  be  arrived  at  in  a 
subsequent  chapter,  by^  what  may  be  called  the  ana- 
lytical method.  But  as  all  men  are  not  created  as 
were  Adam  and  Eve,  and  as  questions  have  arisen  as 
to  the  origin  of  the  souls  of  mankind  in  general — 
whether  they  pre-exist,  are  created  from  time  to  time, 
or  are  in  some  way  transmitted;  we  must  turn  aside 
for  a  time  to  these  side  issues  in  the  next  chapter. 

*"That  the  soul  is  immaterial,"  says  Dr.  Clarke,  "and  forms  no 
part  of  the  human  body,  is  proved  from  the  Scriptural  account  of  the 
creation  of  Adam— hi-  body  being  completely  formed  out  of  the  dust 
of  the  earth,  in  all  it."  organization,  before  the  breath  of  lives  was 
breathed  into  it  by  tho  Almighty,  and  in  consequence  of  which  Adam 
became  a  living  ."mil,  or  animated  being.  Allowing  the  Scriptural  ac- 
count to  be  true,  this  argument  is  sovereignly  conclusive."  /,'/'• ,  "/ 
is;;;.  j,p.  504.  505. 


THE    PROPAGATION    OF    SOULS.  29 


CHAPTER   IV. 

SOULS    NOT    PRE-EXISTENT,    NOR    SlfPPLIED    BY    IMME- 
DIATE   CREATION,  BUT    PROPAGATED. 

AT  the  risk  of  breaking  somewhat  the  connection 
between  the  preceding  and  the  following  chapter,  we 
devote  a  few  pages  just  here  to  a  somewhat  curious 
and  not  unimportant  question  in  regard  to  the  imme- 
diate origin  of  souls,  in  the  case  of  individual  human 
beings.  If  man  is  a  compound  being,  consisting  of  a 
soul  and  body,  and  if  the  former  is  a  distinct  essence 
from  the  latter,  and  capable  of  existence  inde- 
pendently of  the  body,  may  it  not  have  lived  before  it 
became  embodied?  And  if  so,  when  is  the  soul  united 
to  the  body?  And  if  not  pre-existent,  are  souls 
created  one  by  one,  as  they  are  wanted  for  bodies 
conceived  and  in  process  of  growth?  or  are  they 
propagated  with  the  body? 

These  we  say  are  both  curious  and  important 
questions — curious  because  among  the  deep  things  of 
God  and  of  nature,  and  important  because  of  their 
bearing  upon  the  question  of  the  separate  existence 
of  souls,  and  also  upon  the  doctrine  of  transmitted 
depravity.  Indeed  these  questions  often  take  the 
form  of  objections  to  the  doctrine  of  the  distinct  exist- 
ence of  human  spirits. 

There  are  four  distinct  hypotheses  upon  this  sub- 


30  THE    IMMORTALITY    UF    THE    riOl'L. 

ject:  that  souls  are  pro-created  by  the  angels;  that 
they  are  created  by  God,  and  pre-exist  in  another 
state  before  they  appear  here  in  the  body;  that  they 
are  created  by  the  Deity,  at  the  time  of  their  union 
with  the  body ;  and  that  they  are  propagated  or  trans- 
mitted from  parent  to  child  in  accordance  with  certain 
laws  as  yet  unknown  to  man.* 

Let  us  examine  these  hypotheses  in  order: 

I.  The  idea  of  angelic  pro-creation  is  founded  solely 
upon  the  similitude  which  is  supposed  to  exist  between 
angels  and  the  souls  of  men.     But  the  more  we  study 
the  subject  in  the  light  of  the  Scriptures,  the  more 
clearly  shall  we  see  that  the  vast  difference  between 
human  souls  and  angels,  utterly  precludes  the  notion 
that  the  former  are  the  offspring  of  the  latter.    "  This 
fancy,"  says  Flavel,  "needs  not  any  industry  to  over- 
throw it ;  for  though  it  be  certain  there  is  a  similitude 
and  resemblance  betwixt  angels  and  souls,  both  being 
immaterial  substances,  yet  angels  neither  propagate 
by  generation,  nor  is  it  in  their  power  to  create  the 
least  fly  or  worm  in  the  world,  much  less  the  soul  of 
man,  the  highest,  noblest,  and  most  excellent  being. 
Great  power  they  have,  but  no  creating  power.     That 
is  God's  incommunicable  property.     And  pro-create 
our  souls  they  did  not,  for  they  are  spirits,  yet  are 
spirits  of  another  species. "f 

II.  The  notion  that  all  souls  were  created  together 
and  at  once,  as  the  angels  are  supposed  to  have  been, 
and  not  one  by  one,  as  men  are  born  into  the  world, 
has  also  had  its  advocates.    The  Brahmins  believe  in  the 
pre-existence  of  souls,  as  well  as  in  their  transmigra- 

*  Bogue's  Lectures.    Vol.  I.  p.  258. 

f  Treatise  of  the  Soul  of  Man.  (Ed.  1789,)  i>.  7'J. 


THE    PRuPAliATluN    OF    Snll.S.  :',! 

tion.  "  Of  this  opinion  was  Plato,  who  thought  all 
human  souls  to  be  created  together  before  their  bodies, 
and  placed  in  some  glorious  and  suitable  mansion,  as 
the  stars,  till  at  last  growing  weary  of  heavenly,  and 
falling  in  love  with  earthly  things,  for  a  punishment 
of  that  crime,  they  were  cast  into  bodies,  as  into  so 
many  prisons." 

"  Origen  imbibed  this  notion  of  the  pre-existence 
of  souls.  And  upon  this  supposition  it  was,  that 
Porphyry  tells  us  in  the  life  of  Plotinus,  he  blushed 
as  often  as  he  thought  of  his  being  in  a  body,  as  a 
man  that  had  lived  in  reputation  and  honor  blushes, 
when  he  is  lodged  in  prison. 

"  The  ground  on  which  the  stoics  founded  their 
opinion  was,  the  great  dignity  and  excellence  of  the 
soul,  which  inclined  them  to  think  they  had  never 
been  degraded  and  abased  as  they  are,  by  dwelling  in 
such  vile  bodies,  but  for  their  faults  ;  and  that  it  was 
for  some  former  sin  of  theirs,  that  they  slid  down  into 
gross  matter,  and  were  caught  into  a  vital  union  with 
it ;  whereas,  had  they  not  sinned,  they  had  lived  in 
celestial  and  splendid  habitations,  more  suitable  to 
their  dignity."* 

So  far  as  pre-existence,  and  sinning  in  a  previous 
state  are  concerned,  Dr.  Edward  Beecher  has  recently 
advocated  substantially  the  same  view.  In  order,  as 
he  supposes,  to  vindicate  the  divine  character  and  at 
the  same  time  account  for  the  origin  of  evil,  and  the 
fall  and  depravity  of  our  first  parents,  he  supposes  that 
they  had  enjoyed  a  probationary  existence,  before 
entering  their  bodies  in  Eden ;  and  that  in  this  pre- 

*  Flavel.  pp.  77-8. 


32  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

existent  state  they  hud  sinned  and  contracted  a  ten- 
dency to  disobedience  and  a  deep  moral  defilement. 
"By  thus  running  back,"  says  Dr.  B.,  "to  a  previous 
state,  we  can  mark  a  sphere  in  which  those  principles 
were  observed  toward  new-created  minds  which  con- 
sist with  the  character  of  God  as  revealed  in  the  Bible  ; 
and,  on  those  principles,  we  can  account  for  all  the 
native  depravity  and  entire  sinfulness  of  man  ;  and,  as 
no  testimony  of  God  confines  us  to  this  world  for  the 
origin  of  human  depravity,  then  if  these  things  are  so, 
the  character  of  God  and  the  general  principles  and 
parts  of  the  system  prove  that  sin  did  not  originate 
here,  but  that  this  dispensation  is  merely  a  step  in 
the  great  system  of  exposure  by  which  God  is  to  be 
disclosed,  truth  and  holiness  vindicated,  and  error, 
unbelief,  and  sin  to  be  exposed,  paralyzed  and  pun- 
ished forever.* 

Of  the  general  theory  of  the  pre-existence  of  souls, 
Mr.  Flavel  further  says  :  "  But  this  is  a  pure  creature 
of  fancy :  for,  (1.)  No  soul  in  the  world  is  conscious 
to  itself  of  such  a  pre-existence,  nor  can  remember 
when  it  was  owner  of  any  other  habitation  than  that 
it  now  dwells  in.f  (2.)  Nor  doth  the  scripture  give 
us  the  least  hint  of  any  such  thing.  "J 

III.  The  hypothesis  that  souls  are  created  from 
time  to  time,  for  each  individual  body,  is  also  beset 
with  numerous  difficulties.  (1.)  It  involves  the  idea 

*  Conflict  of  Ages,  p.  488.  A  brief  but  excellent  review  of  this  fanci- 
ful theory  may  be  found  in  the  Ladies'  Repository,  for  January  and 
February,  1857,  pp,  53,  114. 

I  For  a  curious  paper  on  the  seeming  recollections  of  scenes  and 
events  of  a  previous  life,  see  National  Magazine  for  Sept.,  1857,  pp. 
208-271. 

J  Treatise  of  the  Soul,  p.  78. 


THE    PU<»1'A<!ATI«'X    uF    SOULS.  33 

of  continuous  creation,  which  has  no  foundation  in 
scripture.  (2.)  It  is  incompatible  with  the  doctrine 
of  inherent  moral  corruption,  which  is  clearly  taught  in 
the  Bible.  How  a  pure  spirit  fresh  from  the  hands 
of  its  Creator  could  conie  into  the  world  tainted  by 
sin,  as  the  scriptures  teach  us  that  human  souls  are 
born,  is  more  than  we  can  understand.  It  certainly 
involves  the  idea  of  physical  depravity,  a  great  absur- 
dity, or  of  no  depravity  at  all,  unless  souls  go  forth 
depraved  from  the  hands  of  a  holy  God.  (3.)  It 
throw  a  shade  over  the  divine  character,  by  making 
God  a  partner  in  transgression,  in  the  case  of  all 
illegitimate  offspring ;  for  if  he  creates  a  soul  for 
every  human  body  begotten,  either  at  or  before  its 
birth ;  then  even  the  profligate  and  the  vile  have 
power,  while  pursuing  a  course  of  sin,  to  control  the 
creative  acts  of  the  Deity,  and  involve  him  as  a  party 
to  their  transgressions.  An  hypothesis  which  draws 
after  it  such  terrible  consequences,  must,  therefore, 
be  abandoned  as  erroneous. 

But  notwithstanding  these  and  many  other  difncul- 
the  more  common  opinion,  probably,  among  all 
orders  of  Christians,  is,  that  souls  are  created,  one 
by  one,  immediately  by  God.  Many  wise  and  good 
men  have  advocated  this  doctrine.  It  is  the  view 
taken  by  Flavel  in  his  elaborate  and  generally  ex- 
cellent treatise,  who  refers  to  Theodoret  and  Pemble 
as  of  the  same  opinion.*  His  theory  of  depravity  is 
that  "souls  are  neither  pure  nor  impure  as  they  come 
from  the  hand  of  the  Creator.  But  if  it  [a  question 
supposed]  respect  the  condition  and  state  in  which 

»  Treatise,  pp.  77,  79 


84  THE    IMMORTALITY    01-    TIIK    SOUL. 

God  created  them,  I  answer  with  Baronius,"  says  he: 
"they  are  created  neither  morally  pure  nor  impure: 
they  receive  neither  purity  nor  impurity  from  him, 
but  only  their  naked  essence,  and  the  natural  powers 
and  properties  flowing  therefrom.  He  inspires  not 
any  impurity  into  them,  for  he  cannot  be  the  author 
of  sin  who  is  the  avenger  of  it.  Nor  doth  he  create 
them  in  their  original  purity  and  rectitude;  for  the 
sin  of  Adam  lost  that,  and  God  justly  withholds  it 
from  his  posterity."* 

We  quote  this  passage  not  to  endorse  either  the 
doctrine  or  the  argument,  but  rather  to  show  to  what 
a  strange  theory  the  writer  was  obliged  to  resort,  to 
maintain  his  doctrine  of  immediate  creation,  in  con- 
nection with  the  doctrine  of  natural  depravity.  And, 
as  if  not  satisfied  with  the  first  solution  of  the  diffi- 
culty, he  immediately  proceeds  to  show,  virtually, 
that  after  all,  moral  defilement  is  derived  from  the 
body — the  oft  exploded  theory  of  physical  depravity. 

IV.  The  doctrine  that  souls  are  propagated  by 
some  mysterious,  and  yet  natural  laws  of  generation, 
seems  more  accordant  with  the  Scriptures,  and  with 
the  various  physical  and  mental  phenomena  involved 
in  the  perpetuity  of  our  species.  It  is  an  interesting 
fact,  that  although  the  creation  of  Eve  was  as  much  a 
miracle  as  that  of  Adam,  no  mention  is  made  in  his- 
tory of  the  event  of  the  inspiration  or  infusion  of 
the  "breath  of  life"  or  spirit  into  her  body,  as  was 
the  case  with  that  of  Adam.  Here  is  the  narrative: 

"And  the  LORD  God  said.  It  is  not  ;iood  that  the 
man  should  be  alone;  I  will  make  him  a  helpmeet  for 
him.  And  the  LORD  God  caused  a  deep  sloop  to  fall 

*  Treatise,  p.  84. 


THE  PKopi'OAiiox  OF  SOULS.  35 


upon  Adam,  and  he  slept  ;  and  lie  took  one  of  his  ribs, 
and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  thereof.  And  the  rib, 
which  the  LORD  God  had  taken  from  man,  made  he  a 
woman,  and  brought  her  unto  the  man.  And  Adam 
said,  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones,  and  flesh  of  my 
flesh:  she  shall  be  called  Woman,  because  she  was 
taken  out  of  man.  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his 
father  and  his  mother,  and  shall  cleave  unto  his  wife  : 
and  they  shall  be  one  flesh."  Gen.  ii.  18-24. 

Would  it  be  a  forced  construction  of  this  passage, 
to  say,  that  the  omission  of  all  reference  to  the  infu- 
sion of  a  soul  into  the  body  of  Eve,  was  designed  to 
teach  that  her  spirit  was  in  some  way  propagated,  in 
connection  with  the  "rib,"  and  that,  after  the  first 
instance,  souls  were  no  more  to  be  breathed  into 
bodies  by  a  direct  act  of  the  Almighty,  than  bodies 
were  to  be  formed  complete  out  of  the  dust  of  the 
earth. 

The  following  pertinent  remarks  upon  the  general 
subject,  are  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Watson  :  — 

"A  question,  as  to  the  transmission  of  this  corrup- 
tion of  nature  from  parents  to  children,  has  been  de- 
bated among  those  who,  nevertheless,  admit  the  fact  ; 
some  contending,  that  the  soul  is  ex  traduce;  others, 
that  it  is  by  immediate  creation.  It  is  certain  that, 
a>  to  the  metaphysical  part  of  this  question,  we  can 
come  to  no  satisfactory  conclusion.  The  Scriptures, 
however,  appear  to  be  more  in  favor  of  the  doctrine 
of  traduction.  ''Adam  begat  a  son  in  his  own  like- 
ness." "That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh,  is  flesh," 
which  refers  certainly  to  the  soul  as  well  as  to  the 
body. 

The  fact  also  of  certain  dispositions   and  eminent 


36  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

faculties  of  the  mind,  being  often  found  in  families, 
appears  to  favor  this  notion ;  though  it  may  be 
plausibly  said,  that,  as  the  mind  operates  by  bodily 
instruments,  there  may  be  a  family  constitution  of  the 
body,  as  there  is  of  likeness,  which  may  be  more  favor- 
able to  the  excitement  and  exertion  of  certain  faculties 
than  others. 

The  usual  argument  against  this  traduction  of  the 
human  spirit  is,  that  the  doctrine  of  its  generation 
tends  to  materialism.  But  this  arises  from  a  mis- 
taken view  of  that  in  which  the  pro-creation  of  a 
human  being  lies,  which  does  not  consist  in  the  pro- 
duction out  of  nothing  of  either  of  the  parts  of  which 
the  compound  being,  man,  is  constituted,  but  in 
uniting  them  substantially  with  one  another.  The 
matter  of  the  body  is  not,  then,  first  made,  but  dis- 
posed, nor  can  it  be  supposed  that  the  soul  is  by  that 
act  first  produced. 

That  belongs  to  a  higher  power  ;  and  then  the  only 
question  is,  whether  all  souls  were  created  in  Adam, 
and  are  transmitted  by  a  law  peculiar  to  themselves, 
which  is  always  under  the  control  of  the  will  of  that 
same  watchful  Providence,  of  whose  constant  agency 
in  the  production  and  ordering  of  the  kinds  s 
and  circumstances  of  the  animal  creation,  we  have 
abundant  proof;  or  whether  they  are  immediately 
created.  The  usual  objection  to  the  last  notion  is. 
that  God  cannot  create  an  evil  nature;  but  if  our 
corruption  is  the  result  of  privation,  not  of  positive 
infection,  the  notion  of  the  immediate  creation  of  the 
soul  is  cleared  of  a  great  difficulty,  though  it  is  not 
wholly  disentangled. 

"But  the  tenet  of  the  soul's  descent  appears  to  have 


THE    PROPAGATION    OF    SOULS.  37 

most  countenance  from  the  language  of  Scripture, 
and  it  is  no  small  confirmation  of  it,  that  when  God 
designed  to  incarnate  his  own  Son,  he  stepped  out  of 
the  ordinary  course,  and  formed  a  sinless  human  nature 
immediately,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost."* 

"  Since  the  reformation,"  says  Knapp,  "this  theory 
has  been  more  approved  than  any  other,  not  only  by  the 
philosophers  and  naturalists,  but  also  by  the  Lutheran 
church.  Luther  himself  appeared  much  inclined  to- 
wards it,  although  he  did  not  declare  himself  dis- 
tinctly in  favor  of  it.  But  in  the  "Formula  Con- 
cordioe,"  it  was  distinctly  taught,  that  the  soul,  as 
well  as  the  body,  was  propagated  by  parents  in  ordi- 
nary generation.  The  reason  why  this  theory  is  so 
much  preferred  by  theologians,  is,  that  it  affords  the 
easiest  solution  of  the  doctrine  of  native  depravity. 
If  in  the  souls  of  our  first  progenitors,  the  souls  of  all 
their  posterity  existed  potentially,  and  the  souls  of 
the  former  were  polluted  and  sinful;  those  of  the 
latter  must  be  so  too.  This  hypothesis  is  not  how- 
ever free  from  objections ;  and  it  i<  very  difficult  to  re- 
concile it  with  some  philosophical  opinions  which  are 
universally  received. "f 

Mr.  Wesley  once  believed  in  the  immediate  creation 
of  souls,  and  so  explained  Heb.  xii.  9,  in  his  Notes 
on  the  New  Testament.  But  in  his  journal  for  Feb. 
27,  1762,  he  says: — "I  had  a  striking  proof  that 
God  can  teach  by  whom  he  will  teach.  A  man  full 
of  words,  but  not  of  understanding,  convinced  me  of 
what  I  could  never  see  before,  that  anima  ex  traduce; 
[the  soul  is  derived  by  propagation  or  traduction,]  that 

*  Institutes,  in  one  vol.  pp.  362,  363. 
I  Lectures  on  Theology.    Vol.  I.  p.  41 7. 


38  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

all  the  souls  of  his  posterity,  as  well  as  their  bodies, 
were  in  our  first  parents."* 

Under  date  of  Oct.  25,  1763,  he  wrote  as  follows: 
"It  may  be  of  use  to  insert  part  of  a  letter  I  received 
about  this  time: — 

"In  reading  your  notes  on  Heb.  xii.,  awhile  since, 
I  was  struck  with  your  exposition  of  the  ninth  verse  : 
'Perhaps  these  expressions,  fathers  of  our  flesh,  and 
Father  of  spirits,  intimate  that  our  earthly  fathers  are 
only  the  parents  of  our  bodies ;  our  souls  not  being 
derived  from  them,  but  rather  created  by  the  imme- 
diate power  of  God,  and  infused  into  the  body  from 
age  to  age.'f 

"But  meeting  with  a  curious  old  book,  which  asserts 
a  contrary  doctrine,  I  hope  you  will  pardon  my  free- 
dom in  transcribing,  and  begging  your  thoughts  upon 
it. 

" l  That  souls  are  not  immediately  infused  by  God, 
but  mediately  propagated  by  the  parent,  is  proved, 

1.  From  the  Divine  rest;  And  he  rested  on  the  seventh 
day  from  all  the  work  which  he  had  made;  Gen.  ii.  1: 

2.  From  the  blessing  mentioned  Gen.  i.  28;  And  God 
blessed  them,  and  said   unto  them,  Be  fruitful  and 
multiply ;  for  this  does  not  relate  to  a  part,  but  to  the 
whole  of  man:  3.  .From  the  generation  of  Seth;  And 
Adam  begat  a  son  in  his  own  likeness,  after  his  image  ; 
Gen.  v.  3;  for  this  image  principally  consisted  in  the 

*  Works,  Vol.  IV.  p.  115. 

f  After  Mr.  Wesley  changed  his  opinions  upon  this  subject,  he  struck 
this  sentence  from  his  Notes  altogether,  and  substituting  in  its  place  the 
passage  now  standing  in  his  Notes,  which  entirely  evades  the  subject 
of  the  origin  of  human  souls.  far  as  to  say,  that  God  is  at 

some  time,  and  in  some  way  either  directly  or  remotely,  "the  author, 
maintainer,  and  perfecter  of  our  spiritual  life." 


THE    PROPAGATION    OF    SOULS.  39 

soul:  4.  From  the  procession  of  the  soul  from  the 
parent,  mentioned  Gen.  xlvi.  26;  All  the  souls  'which 
came  out  of  his  loins :  5.  From  the  very  consideration 
of  sin ;  for  they  are  infused,  (1.)  Either  pure,  and  then 
(I.)  They  will  either  be  free  from  original  sin,  the 
primary  seat  of  which  is  the  soul ;  and  so  God  will  be 
cruel  in  condemning  the  soul  for  what  it  is  not  guilty 
of;  or  (II.)  We  must  suppose  the  impure  body  to 
pollute  the  soul,  which  is  absurd:  or  (2.)  They  are  in- 
fused impure;  and  in  that  case,  God  will  be  the  cause 
of  impurity,  which  is  impossible.  This  is  further 
proved  from  the  doctrine  of  regeneration;  for  that 
which  is  regenerated  was  also  generated  or  begotten; 
but  the  whole  man  is  regenerated,  therefore,  the  whole 
man  is  generated.  Compare  John  iii.  6.  That  which 
is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which  is  born  of 
the  Spirit  is  spirit ;  and  Eph.  iv.  23.  And  be  renewed 
in  the  spirit  of  your  mind. 

" '  That  the  human  soul  is  propagated  by  the 
parents  together  with  the  body,  is  further  proved, 
1.  By  the  creation  of  Eve,  whose  soul  is  not  said  to 
have  been  breathed  into  her  by  God:  2.  From  the 
confession  of  David;  Behold  I  was  shapen  in  iniquity, 
and  in  sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me;  Psalm  li.  5; 
which  words  cannot  possibly  relate  to  the  body  only ; 
3.  From  our  redemption :  what  Christ  did  not  assume, 
he  did  not  redeem;  if,  therefore,  he  did  not  assume 
his  soul,  together  with  his  body,  from  the  Virgin  Mary, 
our  souls  are  not  redeemed  by  Christ;  which  is  evi- 
d.ently  false:  4.  From  similar  expressions,  Job.  x.  8. 
Thy  hands  have  made  and  fashioned  me;  and  Psalm 
exxxix.  13,  For  thou  hast  possessed  my  reins:  thou 
hast  covered  me  in  my  mother's  womb ;  where  God  is 


40  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

said  to  have  formed  us  with  his  own  hands,  which  yot 
is  no  otherwise  done  than  mediately  by  generation: 
5.  From  the  nature  of  the  begetter  and  the  begotten: 
they  are  of  one  species ;  but  the  man  who  begets  con- 
sisting of  a  soul  and  body,  and  a  body  without  a  soul, 
are  not  one  species. 

"'Again,  supposing  the  soul  to  be  infused  by  the 
Deity,  either,  1.  It  will  be  free  from  sin,  and  so  God 
himself  will  be  accused  as  guilty  of  injustice,  in  con- 
demning a  pure  spirit,  and  infusing  it  into  an  impure 
body;  or,  2.  He  will  be  accounted  the  author  of  the 
seul's  pollution,  by  uniting  it,  a  pure  spirit,  to  an  im- 
pure body,  in  order  that  it  should  be  polluted:*  3.  A 
double  absurdity  will  follow  upon  the  supposition; 
viz.  (1.)  The  organical  parts  of  man  only  will  be 
slaves  to  sin:  (2.)  The  immortal  spirit  would  be  cor- 
rupted by  the  mortal  body:  (3.)  Or,  if  the  soul,  being 
thus  infused,  be  polluted  by  sin,  it  will  follow,  that. 
God  is  expressly  assigned  to  be  the  cause  of  sin; 
which  is  the  highest  blasphemy.' " 

The  general  doctrine  of  the  above  extract  is  more 
or  less  sustained  by  the  analogies  of  vegetable  repro- 
duction. The  seed  consists  not  merely  of  the  incipient 
organization  of  the  plant  or  tree  that  shall  be,  but 
also  of  a  mysterious  principle  of  life,  proceeding  from 
the  parent,  and  propagated  in  the  seed.  Of  that 
vitalizing  principle  we  know  as  little  as  of  the  essence 
of  the  soul  itself;  and  can  no  more  comprehend  how 
that  principle  can  be  transmitted  in  a  small  and  dry 
seed,  detached  from  the  parent  bough,  than  we  can 

*  We  by  no  means  endorse  the  doctrine  of  this  passage,  that  the  body 
itself  can  be  the  seat  of  moral  pollution.  Matter  can  have  no  moral 
character. 


THE    PROPAGATION    OF    BO1  41 

comprehend  how  souls  may  be  propagated  by  natural 
generation.  The  one  we  know  to  be  true,  mysterious 
as  it  is ;  and  the  other  is  not  to  be  doubted  merely  be- 
cause it  is  incomprehensible.* 

*  One  of  the  best  papers  we  have  ever  read,  on  the  question,  "Is  the 
»oul  transmitted  or  created?"  may  be  found  in  the  Ladies'  Repository 
for  March,  1SJ7.  That  the  soul  is  transmitted  is  thus  argued.  1.  From 
hereditary  depravity.  2.  From  the  completion  of  the  work  of  creation 
prior  to  the  Sabbath.  3.  From  the  want  of  discrimination  in  the  Scrip- 
tures between  the  origin  of  the  soul,  and  that  of  the  body.  4.  From  the 
creation  of  Eve.  5.  From  the  transmission  of  psychical  peculiarities. 
6.  From  the  analogies  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdom.  7.  From 
the  Incarnation  of  Christ,  and  8.  From  the  fact  of  a  common  humanity. 
The  curious  reader  will  do  well  to  look  up  and  read  the  articles  entire. 


42  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE    NATURE    OF    DEATH. 

LET  us  now  return  from  the  seeming  digression  of 
the  last  chapter. 

Having  shown  in  chapter  third,  that  the  natural 
life  of  Adam  began  with  the  union  of  his  spiritual  and 
material  natures,  we  shall  now  proceed  to  show  that 
it  was  to  end  with  a  separation  of  these  same  natures. 

I.  The  original  decree  of  death,  Gen.  iii.  19,  im- 
plies only  the  death  of  the  body.     "In  the  sweat  of 
thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  thy  bread,  till  thou  return 
unto  the  ground;  for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken :   for 
dust    thou    art,  and    unto  dust    shalt    thou   return." 
Here  it  is  plain,  that  only  so  much  of  man  as  was 
"dust,"  and  "taken  out  of  the  ground,"  was  doomed 
to  return  to  dust  again.     But  the  "breath  of  lives" 
breathed  into  Adam  by  his  Creator,  was  not  "dust," 
nor  "taken  out  of  the  ground."     It  had  therefore  no 
affinity  for  the  material  clod,  and  was  not  doomed  to 
return  to  the  dust  with  the  body  at  death. 

Life  is  real,  life  is  earnest; 

And  the  grave  is  not  its  goal : 
"Dust  thou  art — to  dust  returnest," 
Was  not  spoken  of  the  cmil. 

II.  Answering   to  the    above  view,   we   find    that 
wherever  tlw  fulfilment  of  this  decree  is  spoken  of  in 


THE    NATURE    OF    DEATH.  43 

the  Scriptures,  it  is  described  as  taking  effect  upon 
the  "dust"  or  body  only;   while  the  spirit  is  rel' 
from  the  body  and  survives  its  dissolution.     Take  the 
following,  as  examples  in  point: — 

Eccl.  vii.  8.  "  There  is  no  man  that  hath  power  over 
the  spirit  to  retain  the  spirit;  neither  hath  he  power 
in  the  day  of  death:  and  there  is  no  discharge  in  that 
war:  neither  shall  wickedness  deliver  those  that  are 
given  to  it."  This  passage  clearly  refers  to  death; 
and  the  expression  "to  retain  the  spirit,"  clearly  im- 
plies that  in  death  the  spirit  departs  from  the  body. 
It  cannot  be  "retained"  either  by  the  burial  of  the 
body  or  by  any  other  means. 

Eccl.  xii.  7.  "Then  shall  the  dust  return  to  the 
earth  as  it  was:  and  the  spirit  shall  return  to  God 
who  gave  it."  The  decay  of  the  mortal  body  had 
been  traced  step  by  step  through  its  successive  stages 
of  decline.  The  eye  had  grown  dim;  the  grinders 
had  ceased  because  they  were  few;  the  voice  had 
failed;  and  the  almond  tree  had  come  to  flourish;  and 
at  length  the  silver  cord  is  loosed,  and  the  golden 
bowl  broken.  But  instead  of  saying,  "then  the  aged 
man  dies,"  the  same  idea  is  expressed  in  the  language 
already  cited — "then  shall  the  dust  return  to  the 
earth  as  it  was."  The  allusion  to  Gen.  iii.  19,  is 
unmistakable;  and  it  is  a  most  lucid  comment  upon 
that  passage.  It  shows  us  most  clearly  the  scope 
and  design  of  the  decree,  "dust  thou  art,  and  unto 
dust  shalt  thou  return;"  viz.,  that  the  "dust"  or  body 
only  is  to  "return  to  the  earth  as  it  was,"  while  "the 
spirit  returns  unto  God  who  gave  it." 

III.  To  the  same  effect  is  Job  xxxiv.  15.  "If  he 
set  his  heart  upon  man,  if  he  gather  into  himself  his 


44  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

spirit  and  liis  breath;  all  flesh  shall  perish  together, 
and  man  shall  turn  again  unto  dust."  I  leiv  observe, 
that  contrary  to  the  theory  of  our  modern  "  Bible 
Deists,"  the  "spirit"  and  "breath"  of  man  are  two 
distinct  things;  and  when  God  "gathers  these  unto 
himself,''  man  "turns  again  unto  dust."  Surely  it  is 
not  the  spirit,  which  God  gathers  unto  himself,  that 
returns  to  dust;  but  the  body,  and  that  only. 

IV.  In  Eccl.  iii.  19,  20,  we  are  taught  that  death 
as  inevitably  awaits  man,  as  it  docs  the  beasts  which 
perish.      "For  that  which  bcfalleth  the  sons  of  men 
befalleth.  beasts;   even  one  thing  befalleth  them:   as 
the  one  dieth,  so  dieth  the  other ;  yea,  they  have  all 
one  breath;  so  that  a  man  hath  no  pre-eminence  above 
a  beast :  for  all  is  vanity.     All  go  unto  one  place ;  all 
are  of  the  dust,  and  all  turn  to  dust  again."     But  lest 
it  should  be  understood  that  the  death  of  man  is  in  all 
respects  like  the  death  of  a  beast,  it  is  immediately 
added,  "Who  knoweth  the  spirit  of  man   that  goeth 
upward,  and  the  spirit  of  the  beast  that  goeth  down- 
wardly the  earth?"     They  do  not  die  alike.     Their 
bodies  die  thus:  "as  the  one  dieth  so  dieth  the  other." 
"All  turn  to  dust  again."     But  while  "the  spirit  of 
the  beast,"  like  his   body,  "goeth  downward  to  the 
earth,"  the  spirit  of  the  man  "goeth  upward"     It  is 
not  of  earth,  and  may  not  perish  with   the  mortal 
body. 

V.  The  numerous  scriptural  descriptions  of  death  as 
the  "giving  up  of  the  ghost,"  convey  the  idea  of  the 
separation   of  the    ghost    or    spirit    from    the   body. 
Abraham  "gave  up  the  ghost,"  Gen.  xxv.  8;   Isaac 
"gave  up  the  ghost,"  Gen.  xxxv.  29;  Jacob  "yieMi  d 
up  the  ghost,"  Gen.  xlix.  •>•''>;   and  "when  Jesus  had 


THE    NATURE    OF    DEATH.  45 

cried  with  a  loud  voice,  he  said,  Father,  into  thy 
hands  I  commend  my  spirit :  and  having  said  this  he 
gave  up  the  ghost,"  Luke  xxiii.  46.  "But  man  dieth 
and  wasteth  away,  yea,  man  giveth  up  the  ghost,  and 
where  is  he  ?"  Job  xiv.  10.  Sapphira  "  fell  down  and 
yielded  up  the  ghost,"  Acts  v.  10;  and  so  throughout 
the  Scriptures ;  the  giving  up  of  the  ghost  is  a  com- 
mon phrase  to  signify  dying.  Now  whatever  may  he 
meant  by  the  "ghost"  or  spirit,  (a  point  that  will  be 
considered  elsewhere,)  it  is  evident  from  the  above 
passages,  that  death  is  a  "giving  up"  or  departure  of 
the  spirit  from  the  body. 

VI.  That  death  is  a  separation  of  the  soul  from 
the  body,  is  clearly  implied,  1  Kings  xvii.  20—22, 
where  Elijah  prayed  that  the  son  of  the  widow  of 
Zarephath  might  be  restored  to  life.  "And  he  cried 
unto  the  LORD,  and  said,  0  LORD  my  God,  hast  thou 
also  brought  evil  upon  the  widow  with  whom  I  sojourn, 
by  slaying  her  son?  And  he  stretched  himself  upon 
the  child  three  times,  and  cried  unto  the  LORD,  and 
said,  0  LORD  my  God,  I  pray  thee,  let  this  child's 
soul  come  into  him  again.  And  the  LORD  heard  the 
voice  of  Elijah;  and  the  soul  of  the  child  came  into 
him  again,  and  he  revived." 

Here  instead  of  praying  that  the  child's  lungs 
might  be  inflated  with  air,  the  prophet  prays  that  his 
"soul"  might  re-enter  the  lifeless  body;  and  in 
answer  to  the  prayer  "the  soul  of  the  child  came  into 
him  again,  and  he  revived."  Though  he  had  once 
crossed  the  Jordan  of  death,  and  all  its  bitterness  was 
past;  though  he  had  joined  the  blood-washed  company 
in  Paradise,  and  was  now  a  companion  of  angels  and 
glorified  saints:  yet,  in  answer  to  prayer  he  is  re- 


46  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

manded  back  to  earth,  to  re-inhabit  his  mortal  tene- 
ment. The  race  of  probation  is  again  renewed,  and 
the  home  of  immortals  can  only  be  regained,  by  pass- 
ing a  second  time  the  dark  gateway  of  eternity. 

VII.  When  the  ruler's  daughter  was  raised  to  life, 
Luke  viii.  49-55,  it  is  said,   "And  her    spirit  [Gr. 
pneuma]  came  again,  and  she  arose  straightway,  &c. ;" 
implying  that  in  dying  her  spirit  had  left  the  body, 
and  must  needs  "come  again"  before  she  could  again 
be  restored  to  life. 

VIII.  When  David  learned  that  his  beloved  child  was 
dead,  2  Sam.  xii.  19—23,  he  ceased  to  weep  and  fast; 
and  when  questioned  respecting  his  singular  conduct, 
he  said,  "But  now  he  is  dead,  wherefore  should  I  fast  ? 
Can  I  bring  him  back  again  ?     I  shall  go  to  him,  but 
he  shall  not  return  to  me;" — language  plainly  indi- 
cating the  belief  that  in  some  sense  his  child  had  gone 
hence,  whence  he  could  not  return;  and  that  the  bereft 
father  expected  to  depart  also — to  "go  to  him" — when 
this  mortal  life  should  terminate. 

IX.  The  departure  of  the  soul  at  death  is  compared 
to  the  escape  of  a  bird  from  the  hands  of  the  fowler. 
Ps.  xc.  10.   "The  days   of  our  years  are  threescore 
years  and  ten  ;    and  if  by  reason  of  strength  tliey  be 
fourscore  years,  yet  is  their  strength,  labor  and  sor- 
row;  for  it  is  soon  cut  off,  and  we  FLY  AWAY  "*     A 


The  opinions  "!'  the  uninspired  .Jewish  writers  a  few  centuries  before 
Christ,  may  lie  gathered  from  the  following   passage  from  the  Apoc- 
rypha :   "  But  the  souls  of  the  righteous  are   in   the  hand  of  God,  and 
there  shall  no  torment   touch  them.      In   the  sight  of  the  universe  they 
>  die:   and  their  departure  is  taken  for  mi-fry,  and   their  going 
i  -  to   IK-   utter  destruction :    luit    they  are   in    pence.      For  though 
they  In'  punished  in   the  sight  of  men,  yet  is  their  hope  full  of  immor- 
tality."     \\'indoin,  iii.  1-1. 


THE    NATURE    OF    DEATH.  47 

very  singular  expression  for  a  writer  to  use,  who  be- 
lieved that  man  has  no  distinct  spiritual  nature,  and 
that  the  soul  becomes  extinct  with  the  dissolution  of 
the  body. 

X.  2  Cor.  v.  6—9.   "Therefore  we  are  always  confi- 
dent, knowing  that,  whilst  we   are   at  home   in   the 
body,  we  are  absent  from  the  Lord:  for  we  walk  by 
faith,  not    by  sight ;    we    are   confident,  /  say,  and 
willing  rather  to  be  absent  from  the  body,  and  to  be 

ut  with  the  Lord.  Wherefore  we  labor,  that, 
whether  present  or  absent,  we  may  be  accepted  of  him." 
What  does  St.  Paul  here  mean  by  "  at  home  in  the 
body,"  and  "absent  from  the  body,"  if  the  soul  and 
body  are  not  essentially  distinct,  and  if  death  is  not  a 
separation  of  the  one  from  the  other  ?  What  Materi- 
alist would  ever  employ  such  language  in  reference  to 
himself  or  the  event  of  death  ?  And  in  what  - 
was  Paul  ''absent  from  the  Lord"  while  "at  home  in 
the  body?"  How  must  he  be  "absent  from  the  body" 
before  he  could  be  "present  with  the  Lord?  Is  not 
this  its  obvious  meaning;  that  previously  to  death  he 
could  not  be  with  Christ,  because  he  had  "passed  into 
the  heavens;"  but  that  at  death  his  soul  would  leave 
the  body,  and  ascend  to  Paradise,  there  to  be  "pre- 
sent" with  Christ  for  ever? 

XI.  The  inspired  writers  represent  the  human  body 
as  a  '"tabernacle,"  or  frail  dwelling-place;   and  death 
as  the  putting  off  of  this  tabernacle.      Thus  St.  Paul, 
2   Cor.  v.  1-4:   "For  we  know  that/   if  our  earthly 
house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dissolved,  we  have   a 
building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal 
in  the  heavens.     For  in  this  we  groan,  earnestly  de- 
siring to  be  clothed  upon  with  our  house  which  is  from 


48  THE    I.MAIUHTAUTY    OF    THE 

heaven:  if  so  be  that  being  clothed  we  shall  not  be 
found  naked.  For  AVC  that  arc  in  this  tabernacle  do 
groan,  being  burdened;  not  for  that  we  would  be  un- 
clothed, but  clothed  upon,  that  mortality  might  be 
swallowed  up  of  life." 

So  also,  St.  Peter,  2d  Epistle,  i.  12-15.  "Where- 
fore I  will  not  be  negligent  to  put  you  always  in  re- 
membrance of  these  things,  though  ye  know  them,  and 
be  established  in  the  present  truth.  Yea,  I  think  it 
meet,  as  long  as  I  am  in  this  tabernacle,  to  stir  you 
up  by  putting  you  in  remembrance;  knowing  that 
shortly  I  must  put  off  this  my  tabernacle,  even  as  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  showed  me.  Moreover  I  will 
endeavor  that  ye  may  be  able  after  my  decease  to 
have  these  things  always  in  remembrance." 

The  literal  tabernacle  here  referred  to,  was  the  gor- 
geous tent  in  which  was  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and 
the  symbol  of  the  Divine  presence,  resting  "between 
the  cherubim."  In  the  journeying  of  the  Israelites, 
this  tabernacle  was  often  taken  down,  or  "put  off" 
from  over  the  ark,  while  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  the 
sacred  heart  and  centre  of  the  tabernacle,  remaining 
unchanged,  was  borne  on  to  the  next  station.  To 
this  practice  the  apostle  alludes  in  the  text,  as  illus- 
trative of  death — the  putting  off  or  decay  of  the  body, 
while  the  soul,  like  the  ark  of  God,  moves  on  to  the 
next  stage  of  being,  where  the  body,  like  the  taber- 
nacle, shall  in  due  time  clothe  it  again  and  for  ever. 

In  these  passages,  then,  the  "tabernacle"  to  be 
"dissolved,"  and  the  dwellers  in  the  tabernacle  are 
as  distinct  as  the  house  and  its  occupant.  And  that 
by  the  "putting  off"  his  "tabernacle,"  (as  Christ  had 
shown  him,  John  xxi.  18,  19;)  IVter  meant  hi-;  ••(!<•- 


THE    NATURE    OF    DEATH.  49 

equally  clear.  But  how  can  the  use  of 
such  figures  be  justified  upon  the  supposition  that  man 
has  no  immaterial  spirit  that  will  outlive  the  body? 
In  what  sense  are  we  in  a  tabernacle,  so  that  death  is 
the  putting  off  of  our  tabernacle,  if  it  be  not  that 
death  is  the  separation  of  soul  and  body? 

XII.  St.  Paul  was  wont  to  describe  death  ; 
"departure,"  to  occur  when  he  should  cease  "to  abide 
in  the  flesh,"  and  without  which  he  could  not  "be 
with  Christ,"  Thus  Phil.  i.  21-24.  "For  to  me  to 
live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain.  But  if  I  live  in  the 
flesh,  this  is  the  fruit  of  my  labor:  yet  what  I  shall 
choose  I  wot  not.  For  I  am  in  a  strait  betwixt  two, 
having  a  desire  to  depart,  and  to  be  with  Christ; 
which  is  far  better:  nevertheless  to  abide  in  the  flesh 
is  more  needful  for  you." 

"What  does  the  apostle  here  mean  by  "abiding  in 
the  flesh,"  if  it  be  not  living  in  the  body?  And  what 
by  "departing,"  if  it  be  not  dying  and  ascending  to 
heaven?  Is  he  not  obviously  speaking  of  death? 
And  how  could  he  "be  with  Christ"  after  death,  if 
his  whole  being  went  down  together  into  the  tomb,  to 
dwell  in  silence  and  corruption  to  the  general  resur- 
rection? Though  "to  live  was  Christ,"  yet  "to  die 
was  gain;"  not  because  he  would  find  the  oblivion  of 
ages  in  the  grave,  but  because  he  would  ascend  "  to 
be  with  Christ"  in  the  heavenly  world,  which  is  "far 
better"  than  the  most  intimate  spiritual  fellowship 
with  him  in  this  mortal  life.  It  is  scarcely  possible 
for  language  more  clearly  to  teach  the  doctrine  that 
death  is  a  separation  of  body  and  spirit,  and  a  de- 
parture of  the  latter  from  this  world. 

The  same  doctrine  is  taught   in   numerous  other 
4 


50  THK    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOIL. 

Scriptures,  as,  for  instance  2  Tim.  iv.  6,  where  the 
apostle  says,  "  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the 
time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand,"  &c. 

Also,  Gen.  xxxv.  "  And  it  came  to  pass  as  her 
soul  was  in  departing,  (for  she  died,)  &c."  It  was  re- 
vealed to  Simeon  that  he  should  not  see  death  till  he 
had  seen  the  Lord's  Christ ;  and  when  he  saw  the  in- 
fant Redeemer,  he  said,  "  Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy 
servant  depart  in  peace,  according  to  thy  word."  To 
him,  also,  death  was  a  departure,  which  could  not  be 
true  in  any  sense  if  the  soul  died  with  the  body,  and 
was  not  separated  from  it, 

XIII.  Jacob  is  said  to  have  been  gathered  unto  his 
people  at  the  moment  of  death,  Gen.  xlix.  33,  though 
his  body  was  not  buried  with  the  bodies  of  his  ances- 
tors till  months  afterward. 

"  And  when  Jacob  had  made  an  end  of  commanding 
his  sons,  he  gathered  up  his  feet  into  the  bed,  and 
yielded  up  the  ghost,  and  was  gathered  unto  his  people." 

Jacob  died  in  Goshen  in  Egypt,  but  was  buried  in 
the  land  of  Canaan.  They  were  forty  days  embalm- 
ing the  body,  and  the  mourning  in  Egypt  continued 
thirty  days  longer.  Joseph  then  obtained  permission 
of  Pharaoh  to  go  and  bury  his  father.  Ch.  1.  3-6. 
How  long  they  were  going  is  not  stated;  but  they 
mourned  seven  days  more  at  the  threshing-floor  of 
Atad,  ch.  1.  10,  so  that  at  least  eighty  days  elapsed 
between  the  alleged  gathering  unto  his  people,  and 
the  burial  of  the  body  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah  in 
Canaan.  How,  then,  was  he  "gathered  unto  his 
people"  at  the  time  of  his  death,  if  it  was  not  by  the 
departure  of  his  soul  to  Paradise,  the  home  of  Isaac, 
his  father,  and  his  grand-father  Abraham  ? 


THE    NATURE    OF    DEATH.  51 

The  testimony  that  this  place  bears  to  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  and  to  its  existence  separate  from 
the  body,  should  not  be  lightly  regarded.  In  the 
same  moment  in  which  Jacob  is  said  to  have  gathered 
up  his  feet  into  the  bed,  and  to  have  expired,  it  is 
added,  and  was  gathered  unto  his  people.  It  is  certain 
that  his  body  was  not  then  gathered  to  his  people,  nor 
till  seven  weeks  after ;  and  it  is  not  likely  that  a  cir- 
cumstance so  distant  in  point  both  of  time  and  place, 
would  have  been  thus  anticipated,  and  associated  with 
facts  that  took  place  at  that  moment.  I  cannot  help, 
therefore,  considering  this  an  additional  evidence  for 
the  immateriality  of  the  soul ;  and  that  it  was  intended 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  carry  this  grand  and  consola- 
tory sentiment,  that  when  a  holy  man  ceases  to  live 
among  his  fellows,  his  soul  becomes  an  inhabitant  of 
another  world  and  is  joined  to  the  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect."* 

XIV.  That  death  is  a  mere  separation  of  soul  and 
body,  is  further  evident  from  James  ii.  26. — "  For  as 
the  body  without  the  spirit  is  dead,  so  faith  without 
works  is  dead  also."  Here  the  apostle  refers  for  the 
illustration  of  his  subject,  to  a  fact  acknowledged  by 
all  professing  Christians  of  his  day,  viz  :  that  the  body 
was  "dead"  when  it  was  "without  the  spirit;"  or,  in 
other  words,  that  death  is  a  separation  of  the  soul  and 
body  of  man. 

Suchj  according  to  the  infallible  testimony  of  the 
word  of  God,  is  the  nature  of  death.  The  original 
decree  consigns  "the  dust"  only  to  the  dust;  while 
"the  spirit  returns  to  God  who  gave  it."  Though 
"man  shall  turn  again  unto  dust,"  like  the  beast,  his 

*  Dr.  A.  Clarke's  notes  on  the  passage. 


.rr2  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

"  spirit  and  his  breath"  shall  his  Maker  "  gather  unto 
himself."  Death  is  "the  giving  up  of  the  ghost," 
and  the  dead  are  not  restored  to  life,  unless  their 
"souls  come  into  them  again."  We  ktfiy  away"  at 
death,  and  must  be  "absent  from  the  body"  to  be 
"present  with  the  Lord."  We  are  now  dwelling  in 
"  earthly  houses  of  this  tabernacle"  which  we  shall 
"  put  off"  at  death  ;  to  pass,  if  Christians,  to  "  a  house 
not  made  with  hands  eternal  in  the  heavens."  We 
now  "abide  in  the  flesh,"  but  are  destined  to  "depart 
and  be  with  Christ;  which  is  far  better."  Death  will 
sever  the  mystic  tie  that  binds  the  spirit  to  a  material 
body ;  and  these  two  essentially  different  natures  will 
part  company  till  the  resurrection  morning.  Can  we 
better  conclude  this  chapter  than  by  quoting  the  fol- 
lowing beautiful  lines  from  Mrs.  Sigourney  ? 

FAREWELL    OF    THE    SOUL   TO    THE    BODY. 

Companion  dear !  the  hour  draws  nigh 

The  sentence  speeds — to  die,  to  die. 

So  long  in  mystic  union  held, 

So  close  with  strong  embrace  compell'd, 

How  can'st  thou  bear  the  dread  decree, 

That  strikes  thy  clasping  nerves  from  me  ? 

To  Him  who  on  this  mortal  shore, 

The  same  encircling  vestment  wore, 

To  Him  I  look,  to  Him  I  bend, 

To  Him  thy  shuddering  frame  commend. 

If  I  have  ever  caus'd  thee  pain, 

The  throbbing  heart,  the  burning  brain, 
With  cares  and  vigils  turn'd  thee  pale, 
And  scorn'd  thee  when  thy  strength  did  fail — 
Forgive  !  forgive  ! — thy  task  doth  cease, 
Friend  !  Lover  ! — let  us  part  in  peace. 
If  thou  didst  sometimes  check  my  force, 
Or,  trifling,  stay  mine  upward  course, 
Or  lure  from  heaven  my  wavering  trust, 
Or  bore  my  drooping  wing  to  dust — 


THE    NATURE    OF    DEATH.  53 

I  blame  thee  not.  the  strife  is  done, 
I  know  thou  wert  the  weaker  one, 
The  vase  of  earth,  the  trembling  clod, 
Constrained  to  hold  the  breath  of  God. 

Well  hast  thou  in  my  service  wrought, 

Thy  brow  hath  mirror'd  forth  my  thought, 

To  wear  my  smile  thy  lips  hath  g! 

Thy  tear,  to  speak  my  sorrow,  flowed, 

Thine  ear  hath  borne  me  rich  supplies 

Of  sweetly  varied  melodies, 

Thy  hands  my  prompted  deeds  have  done, 

Thy  feet  upon  my  errands  run 

Yes,  thou  hast  marked  my  bidding  well, 
Faithful  and  true  !  farewell,  farewell. 
******** 


54  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CONSCIOUS  EXISTENCE  OF  SOULS   BETWEEN   DEATH  AND 
THE    RESURRECTION. 

THE  last  chapter  was  devoted  mainly  to  a  single 
point — the  nature  of  death  ; — the  object  being  to  show 
that  according  to  the  Scriptures,  which  are  our  only 
guide  upon  this  subject,  death  is  but  the  separation  of 
the  two  natures  of  man,  the  boHy  and  the  spirit.  So 
far  as  this  point  is  established,  it  goes  also  to  estab- 
lish the  proposition  argued  in  Chapter  III.,  viz  :  that 
man  has  a  two-fold  nature,  a  body  and  a  spirit.  In  like 
manner,  Avhatever  tends  to  prove  that  man  has  a 
conscious  existence  after  death,  will  go  equally  to 
establish  the  doctrine  of  purely  spiritual  existence, 
and  of  the  two-fold  nature  of  man  ;  as  also,  that  death 
is  but  the  separation  of  these  two  natures,  and  not  the 
extinction  of  either. 

Until  quite  recently,  it  has  never  been  necessary  to 
enter  into  a  formal  argument  to  prove  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  from  the  Bible,  with  any  who  professed  to 
believe  its  teachings.  But  within  a  few  years  past, 
certain  persons  who,  by  a  system  of  literalism,  had  so 
interpreted  the  Bible  as  to  prove,  as  they  thought, 
that  the  world  would  end  on  a  given  day;  by  the 
same  principles  of  interpretation  applied  to  the  sub- 
ject of  a  future  state,  have  demonstrated,  as  we 


CONSCIOUS    BEING    AFTER    DEATH. 

think  with  equal  uncertainty,  that  man  has  no  soul 
distinct  from  the  body,  or  capable  of  existence  after 
the  body  dies.  It  would  surprise  no  one  to  find  this 
sentiment  in  the  writings  of  Hobbs  or  Hume ;  but,  to 
find  men  professing  to  be  Christians,  and  yet  attempt- 
ing to  prove  this  fundamental  principle  of  Deism  from 
the  Bible,  may  well  excite  astonishment.  It  is  in 
view  of  this  theological  monstrosity  that  we  have  thus 
far  so  carefully  examined  the  Scriptures  step  by  stop, 
and  adduced  their  unequivocal  and  overwhelming  testi- 
mony in  proof  of  the  immortality  of  man. 

But,  before  we  proceed  further  in  this  examination, 
it  may  be  well  to  call  to  mind  the  fact  that  the  Jews, 
among  whom  Christ  and  his  apostles  taught,  were  in 
the  main  firm  believers  in  the  soul's  immortality. 
They  were  divided  into  three  principal  sects — the 
Pharisees,  the  Sadducees  and  the  Essenes. 

The  PHARISEES  held  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul 
and  the  existence  of  angels.  'Hence  when  it  is  said, 
Acts  xxiii.  8,  that  "  the  Sadducees  say  there  is  no  re- 
surrection, neither  angel  nor  spirit,"  it  is  added,  ''but 
the  Pharisees  CONFESS  BOTH."  It  is  true  that  some  of 
them  held  to  the  transmigration  of  souls  from  one 
body  to  another,*  but  this  in  no  way  affected  the 
simple  question  of  purely  spiritual  existence,  and  the 
soul's  immortality.  In  his  discourse  to  the  Greeks 
concerning  Hades,  Josephus  says,  "  This  is  the  dis- 
course concerning  Hades,  wherein  the  souls  of  all  men 
are  confined  until  a  proper  season  which  God  hath 
determined,  when  he  will  make  a  resurrection  of  all 
men  from  the  dead.  *  *  *  And  to  every  body 
shall  its  own  soul  be  restored."  This  was  beyond  all 

II   vne's  lutrodr.  I.  p.  14 (. 


56  THE    IMMORTALITY    OP   THE    SOUL. 

question  the  prevailing  belief  among  the  Jews,  at  the 
time  of  our  Lord  and  his  apostles — a  belief  professedly 
drawn  from  their  sacred  writings.  If,  therefore,  this 
doctrine  was  erroneous,  our  Saviour  and  his  apostles 
ought  so  to  have  spoken  and  written  as  to  have  con- 
demned it ;  or  at  least  to  have  given  it  no  counte- 
nance. But  instead  of  this,  we  hear  St.  Paul  ex- 
claiming on  one  occasion,  long  after  his  conversion, 
"  I  ani  a  Pharisee,  the  son  of  a  Pharisee,"  Acts  xxiii.  6. 

The  Sadducees  denied  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
if  not  all  purely  spiritual  existence.  Josephus  says, 
"  the  doctrine  of  the  Sadducees  is  this,  THAT  SOULS 
DIE  WITH  THE  BODIES."*  "They  take  away  the 
belief  of  the  immortal  existence  of  the  soul,  and  the 
punishments  and  rewards  of  Hades,  "f  St.  Luke 
says,  Acts  xxiii.  8,  that  "  the  Sadducees  say  that 
there  is  no  resurrection,  neither  AXGKL  nor  SPIRIT. "J 
On  this  point,  therefore,  those  who  now  teach  that 
there  is  no  "spirit"  distinct  from  the  animal  nature, 
and  that,  consequently,  the  soul  du's  with  the  body, 
are  only  reproducing  the  oft  refuted  doctrines  of  the 
ancient  Sadducees. 

The  ESSKXKS.  like  the  Pharisees,  "held,  among 
other  tenets,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  (though  they 
denied  the  resurrection  of  the  body,)  the  existence  of 
angels,  and  a  state  of  future  rewards  and  punish- 
ments ;"§  so  that  the  Sadducees  excepted,  who  were 

*  Antiquities,  b.  xviii.  g  4.  f  War?,  b.  viii.  \  14. 

j  •• '  X-'ither  angel.     That  there  arc  no  anpels.     They  ileny  the  exist- 
enee  of  good  or  bad   n:  ./•   Spirit,'  or  soul.  They  held    thut 

there  was  nothing  but  matter.     They  won-  materialists,  and  in 
that  all  the  operations  which  «••   asrril><>  to  mind,  could  be  traced  to 
some  modification  of  matter."     Tic, 

$  See  Home's  Introduction,  Vol.  I.  \>.  Mil. 


CONSCIOUS    BEING    AFTER    DEATH.  57 

but  an  inconsiderable  sect,*  the  whole  Jewish  nation, 
among  whom  Christ  and  his  apostles  went  "  preach- 
ing the  kingdom  of  God,"  believed  in  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  and  in  future  rewards  and  punishments. 
This  fact  will  enable  us  the  better  to  understand  the 
design  of  the  New  Testament  writers,  in  the  use  of 
the  language  employed  by  them.  Let  us  see,  then, 
if  they  have  not  taught,  and  did  not  design  to  teach 
the  doctrine  of  the  soul's  immortality. 

I.  All   those    scriptures    cited    in    the    preceding 
chapter   to   show  that   the  death   of  man   is  a  mere 
separation  of  the  soul  from  the  body,  imply  also    the 
conscious  existence  of  the  soul  in  its  disembodied  state, 
and  its  immortality.    If  the  spirit  "  returns  to  God  who 
gave  it,"  when  "the  dust  returns  to  the  earth;"    if 
it  "goeth   upward,"   "flies    away,"   "puts    off"    its 
"  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  ;"  and  "  departs  to 
be  with  Christ,"  it  has  proved  itself  immortal  bypass- 
ing unhurt  the  vale  of  death,  and  extending  its  exist- 
ence forward  into  a  region  where  death  is  forever  un- 
known.    And  unless  we  suppose  it  possible  that  the 
soul  should  live  on  forever  in  a  state  of  unconscious- 
ness, the  idea  of  a    future  and   immortal   existence 
necessarily  involves  the  idea  that  such  existence  will 
be  one  of  conscious  memory  and  reflection,  and    of 
endless  joy  or  sorrow. 

II.  When  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  unto  Moses 
in  a  flame  of  fire  out  of  the  midst  of  the  bush,  he  said, 
"  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and 
the  God  of  Jacob,"  Exodus  iii.  2,  6;  and  when  the 
Sadducees  encountered  our  Lord,  respecting  the  resur- 

*  "  This  doctrine  is  received  but  by  n,  few."     Josephus  Ant.  b.  xviii. 
I*. 


58  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOIL. 

rection,  Luke  xx.  27,  37,  he  said  to  them,  "  Now  that 
the  dead  are  raised,  even  Moses  shewed  at  the  bush, 
when  he  calleth  the  Lord  the  God  of  Abraham,  and 
the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob.  For  he  is 
not  a  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living :  for  all  live 
unto  him." 

Jehovah  appeared  to  Moses  in  the  bush  1491  years 
before  Christ.  Abraham  died  B.  C.  1821 ;  Isaac  B. 
C.  1716 ;  and  Jacob  B.  C.  1689 ;  consequently,  at 
that  time  (B.  C.  1491)  Abraham  had  been  dead  330 
years,  Isaac  225  years,  and  Jacob  198  years.  And 
yet,  God  declared  himself  to  be  the  God  of  these  three 
persons  who  had  long  been  dead. 

The  argument  of  our  Lord  based  upon  this  pas 
is  this:  God  "is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,"  or  of 
those  who  are  extinct  or  annihilated.     But  God  was 
at  that  time  the   God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of 
Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob. 

Therefore,  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  must  still  h;i  vc 
been  alive.  And  this  logical  deduction  from  the  premi- 
ses laid  down,  is  supported  by  the  plain  declaration  of 
our  Lord — "FOR  ALL  LIVE  UNTO  HIM."  We  talk  of 
the  death  of  man,  because  we  see  the  "  earthly  house" 
dissolved ;  but  it  is  only  an  illusion. 

"There  is  no  death;  what  seems  such,  is  transition." 

The  body  dies,  but  the  soul  survives  death ;  so  that 
he  who  is  the  God  of  the  living  only,  is  still  the  God 
of  the  departed,  because  "all  live  unto  him." 

The  bearing  of  this  quotation  of  our  Lord  upon  the 
subject  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  is  obvious. 
The  Sadduceos  denied  all  future  existence.  They 
held  that  when  a  man  died  all  life  both  of  soul  and 


CONSCIOUS  BEING  AFTER  DEATH.        59 

body  became  extinct  together,  and  that  neither  would 
ever  be  reproduced.  With  them,  therefore,  the  two 
doctrines — the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead — stood  or  fell  together ;  and  to 
prove  that  the  souls  of  men  live  after  death,  was 
effectually  to  overthrow  the  system  of  the  Sadducees, 
and  silence  their  objections  to  the  resurrection  of  the 
body.  If  any  life  beyond  the  grave  could  be  proved 
from  the  Pentateuch,  the  authority  of  which  they  pro- 
fessed to  revere,  their  theory  was  in  ruins,  and  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  was  established. 

III.  It  is  said,  Luke  xxiii.  42,  43,  that  the  dying 
thief  upon  the  cross  said  to  Jesus,  "Lord,  remember 
me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom.  And  Jesus 
said  unto  him,  Verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  to-day  shalt 
thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise."  It  is  obvious  that  the 
thief  expected  soon  to  die.  Indeed  there  was  and 
could  have  been  no  hope  of  escape.  It  is  equally 
certain  that  the  prevailing  belief  among  the  Jews  at 
this  time  was,  that  the  soul  left  the  body  at  death, 
and  went  to  Hades  or  the  world  of  spirits,  to  return 
again  at  the  general  resurrection.  This  was  no  doubt 
the  belief  of  the  thief  when  he  said,  "  Lord,  remember 
me,  etc." 

The  term  "Paradise"  signifies  pleasure  or  delight, 
and  is  used  in  the  New  Testament  to  signify  the 
abode  of  the  spirits  of  the  righteous  between  death 
and  the  resurrection.  St.  Paul  was  caught  up  to 
Paradise,  2  Cor.  xii.  4  :  and  when  the  Spirit  would  in- 
cite believers  to  holy  living  by  the  promise  of  eternal 
life,  he  says,  "  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to 
eat  of  the  tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
Paradise  of  God;"  Rev.  ii.  7.  Now,  the  promise  of 


60  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

the  Saviour  was,  that  the  thief  should  be  with  him  in 
Paradise  THAT  DAY  ;  and,  as  Paradise  is  the  place  of 
separate  souls,  to  which  Paul  was  caught  up,  where 
grows  the  tree  of  life,  the  purport  of  the  whole  is,  that 
according  to  the  prevailing  belief  of  the  separate  ex- 
istence of  souls  implied  in  the  prayer  of  the  dying 
but  penitent  thief,  he  should  be  with  Christ  that  day 
in  a  place  of  happiness.  If  the  Saviour  meant  simply 
to  say  that  they  would  both  soon  be  in  the  grave,  it 
was  no  news  to  the  thief,  and  no  answer  to  his  prayer. 
And  if  Paradise  meant  simply  the  place  of  the  dead — 
a  "paradise"  of  unconscious  non-existence — what 
kind  of  a  "  remembrance"  was  that  which  the  dying 
malfactor  obtained  ?  and  what  better  off  was  he  who 
repented  and  prayed,  than  he  who  railed  and  was  for- 
gotten ?  The  passage  can  have  but  one  meaning, 
therefore;  and  that  is,  that  the  soul  of  the  dying  thief 
should  be  saved ;  and  should  meet  the  human  soul 
of  Christ,  which  he  was  about  to  commend  to  his 
Father's  hands,  in  the  abode  of  forgiven  and  glorified 
spirits. 

IV.  The  conscious  existence  of  the  soul  after  death, 
is  clearly  taught  in  the  parable  of  the  rich  man,  and 
Lazarus,  Luke  xvi.  19—31.  We  say  parable,  though 
the  same  doctrine  is  taught  whether  we  regard  the 
account  as  a  parable,  or  as  a  veritable  history.  In 
either  case,  the  souls  of  the  dead  are  represented  as 
living,  talking  and  remembering,  being  "comforted" 
or  "  tormented"  after  death.  The  rich  man  "died,  and 
was  buried  ;  and  in  hell  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in 
torments."  "The  beggar  died,  and  was  carried  by 
the  angels  to  Abraham's  bosom."  Now  what  does 
this  ••comfort"  and  "torment"  after  death — this 


CONSCIOUS    BEING    AFTER    DEATH.  61 

reference  to  the  "  life-time"  of  Dives  as  then  past — 
the  request  that  Lazarus  be  sent  back  to  earth,  and 
the  plea  that  "  if  one  went  unto  them  from  the  dead, 
they  will  repent" — indeed,  what  does  this  whole  narra- 
tive teach,  if  it  be  not  that  the  soul  lives  after  the 
body  dies,  and  is  happy  or  miserable  in  another 
world  ? 

Let  any  one  turn  to  this  narrative,  and  read  it 
carefully  over,  verse  after  verse,  and  if  he  does  not 
find  there  the  conscious  existence  of  souls  after  death, 
he  can  find  it  in  no  creed,  or  essay,  or  argument 
whatever.  Language  could  scarcely  teach  that  doc- 
trine more  plainly ;  and  the  mind  that  can  misin- 
terpret or  pervert  such  language,  would  pervert  any 
language  that  could  be  employed. 

Upon  the  subject  of  the  locality  of  human  spirits  in 
the  unseen  state,  Bishop  Horsley  has  the  following 
observations : —  ' 

"  The  soul  existing  after  death,  and  separate  from 
the  body,  though  of  a  nature  immaterial,  'must  be  in 
some  place ;  for  however  metaphysicians  may  talk  of 
space  as  one  of  the  adjuncts  of  body,  as  if  nothing 
but  gross  sensible  body  could  be  limited  to  a  place, 
to  exist  without  relation  to  space  seems  to  be  one  of 
the  incommunicable  perfections  of  the  Divine  Being ; 
and  it  is  hardly  to  be  conceived  that  any  created 
spirit,  of  however  high  an  order,  can  be  without 
locality,  or  without  such  determination  of  its  existence 
at  any  given  time  to  some  certain  place ;  that  it  shall 
be  true  to  say  of  it,  '  Here  it  is,  and  not  elsewhere.'  "* 

V.  Our  Saviour  teaches,  Matt.  x.  28,  that  the  soul 
cannot  be  killed — that  though  men  can  kill  the  body, 

*  Horsley's  Sermons,  Vol.  II.  pp.  89,  90 


02  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

they  cannot  kill  the  soul.  "  And  fear  not  them  which 
kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul."  The 
soul  is  not  the  body,  nor  the  body  the  soul ;  so  that 
while  men  are  able  to  kill  the  one,  they  are  not  able 
to  kill  the  other.  But  if  the  soul  was  a  simple  result 
of  animal  organization — the  operations  of  the  brain — 
as  materialism  teaches — then  whoever  killed  the  body, 
would,  at  the  same  time  kill  the  soul.  But  so  dis- 
tinct are  they,  and  so  do  they  differ  as  to  their  mor- 
tality, that  while  men  are  "able  to  kill  the  body," 
they  are  "NOT  ABLE  TO  KILL  THE  SOUL."  That  ethe- 
real nature  LIVES  still,  though  the  body  dies.  The 
poor  material  casket  may  be  wasted,  and  wrecked,  and 
smothered  up  in  the  dust  from  whence  it  came. 

Yet  not  thus  buried,  or  extinct, 

The  vital  spark  shall  lie  ; 

For  in  life's  wreck  that  spark  shall  rise, 

To  seek  its  kindred  sky. 

And  if  those  who  are  able  to  kill  the  body  are  not 
able  to  kill  the  soul,  how  say  some  among  us  that  the 
body  and  soul  are  the  same,  and  that  to  kill  the  one 
is,  in  all  cases,  to  kill  the  other  also  ? 

VI.  St.  Paul  teaches  1  Thess.  v.  9,  10,  that 
whether  the  righteous  live  or  die,  they  are  to  live  with 
Christ.  "  For  God  hath  not  appointed  us  unto  wrath, 
but  to  obtain  salvation  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
died  for  us,  that,  whether  we  WAKE  or  SLEEP,  [that  is 
LIVE  or  DIE]  we  should  LIVE  TOGETHER  WITH  HIM." 
Even  if  they  "  sleep"  they  are  nevertheless  to  "  LIVE," 
and  "to  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better." 

For  there  is  no  sleep,  no  grave  so  deep, 
That  can  hold  the  human  soul. 


,  s  I;EING  AFTER  DEATH.  »'•:'> 

••Neither  life  nor  DEATH"  can  separate  the  good 
man  from  his  everlasting  portion  in  Jesus  Christ. 

VII.  In  the  account  of  Christ's  transfiguration, 
Matt.  xvii.  3,  we  are  told  that  ''there  appeared  unto 
him  Moses  and  Elias  talking  unto  him."  Elias  was 
translated  without  seeing  death,  nine  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  years  before,  '2  Kings  2d  chapter:  and 
Moses  DIED  on  Mount  Nebo  fourteen  hundred  and 
eighty-three  years  before.  "  So  Moses,  the  servant 
of  the  Lord,  died  there,  in  the  land  of  Moab — and  he 
[Jehovah]  buried  him  in  a  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab, 
over  against  Beth-peor:  but  no  man  knoweth  the 
place  of  his  sepulchre  unto  this  day."  Deut.  xxxiv.  -r>. 

Here  notice,  first,  that  Moses  was  dead  and  buried. 
In  the  second  place,  it  is  certain  that,  at  the  time  of 
the  transfiguration  his  body  had  not  been  raised  from 
the  dead.  St.  Paul  declares,  Acts  xxvi.  23,  that 
"the  prophets  and  Moses"  had  taught,  "that  Christ 
should  suffer,  and  that  he  should  be  the  first  that 
should  rise  from  the  dead. ' '  In  the  first  epistle  of 
Paul  to  the  Corinthians,  xv.  20,  he  declares  that 
Christ  had  become  "the  first  fruits  of  them  that  slept :" 
and  Col.  i.  18,  he  styles  him  "the  first  born  from  the 
dead;  that  in  all  things  he  might  have  the  pre-emi- 
nence." The  Revelator  also  styles  him  "the  first- 
begotten  of  the  dead,"  Rev.  i.  5. 

Though  several  had  been  restored  from  death  to 
life  prior  to  the  crucifixion,  no  one  of  them  was  raised 
to  immortality.  Of  the  subjects  of  the  resurrection 
proper  it  can  be  said,  "neither  shall  they  die  any 
more;"  but  this  was  not  the  case  with  the  widow's  son 
raised  by  Elijah;  nor  with  the  son  of  the  widow  of 
Nain,  nor  with  Lazarus.  These  all  died  again. 


64  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOIT,. 

Never  until  Christ  burst  the  bars  of  death,  was  a  (load 
human  body  raised  to  life  and  immortality.  And  as 
the  transfiguration  was  before  the  crucifixion  and 
resurrection,  it  is  certain  that  the  body  of  Moses  had 
not  been  raised  from  the  dead. 

What  was  it,  then,  that  appeared  on  mount  Tabor, 
and  talked  with  Christ? — that  which  Matthew  calls 
"Moses?"  It  was  not  the  body  of  Moses,  for  that 
had  not  been  raised  from  death,  but  still  slept  "in  a 
valley  in  the  land  of  Moab."  It  must,  therefore, 
have  been  his  spirit,  unless  he  had  some  other  nature 
beside  body  and  spirit,  that  might  with  propriety  be 
called  "Moses."* 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  spirit  of  Moses,  with 
Christ  and  Elias  on  the  summit  of  Tabor,  near  fifteen 
centuries  after  his  body  died,  and  while  it  yet  slum- 
bered in  its  unknown  resting-place,  where  it  doubtless 
sleeps  unto  this  day.  It  is  certain,  therefore,  that 
the  soul  can  and  does  survive  the  death  of  the  body; 
and  can  live,  and  think,  and  even  "talk"  if  necessary, 
ages  after  its  "earthly  house"  has  crumbled  back  to 
dust. 

VIII.  The  Scriptures  uniformly  teach  that  the 
righteous  enter  upon  at  least  an  earnest  of  their 
eternal  reward  immediately  after  death.  The  heavenly 
Canaan,  like  the  earthly,  is  but  just  beyond  Jordan. 

When  the  good  man  yields  his  breath, 

(For  the  good  man  never  dk-s) 
Bright  beyond  the  vale  of  death, 

Lo !  the  land  of  promise  lies. 

For  his  soul  to  "depart"  is  to  "be  with  Christ." 
Phil.  i.  23.  Though  he  "sleep"  or  die,  he  lives 

*See  Muckniirht  on  Heb.  xi.  40 


CONSCIOUS  BEING  AFTER  DEATH.        65 

together  with  Christ.  1  Thess.  v.  10.     Lazarus  died, 

~ 

and  was  carried  at  once  to  Abraham's  bosom.  Luke 
xvi.  22.  When  the  earthly  house  is  dissolved,  we 
enter  that  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the 
heavens. 

To  be  absent  from  the  body  is  to  be  present  with 
the  Lord.  2  Cor.  v.  7.  "Blessed  are  the  dead  which 
die  in  the  Lord  FROM  HENCEFORTH."  Rev.  xiv.  13. 
"Gr.  apart i.  From  this  time;  now,  immediately."* 
They  have  not  to  sleep  in  the  grave  for  perhaps 
thousands  of  years,  a  long  and  dreamless  parenthesis 
of  being, — before  their  heavenly  joys  begin ;  but  enter 
at  once  upon  their  glorious  reward. 

We  know  when  the  silver  cord  is  loosed, 

And  the  veil  is  rent  away, 
Not  long  and  dark  shall  the  passage  be, 

To  the  realnu  »t  endle-s  day. 

The  eye  that  shut:-  in  the  mortal  hour, 

Shall  open  the  next  in  bliss  ; 
The  welcome  shall  sound  in  the  heavenly  world, 

Ere  the  farewell  is  hushed  in  this. 

"The  transition  is  doubtless  instantaneous.  It  is 
no  tiresome  walk  down  through  a  lonely,  dark  valley; 
ir  is  no  weary  flight  upward,  as  the  eagle  mounts, 
higher  and  higher;  but  no  sooner  is  a  believer's  soul 
disembodied,  than  it  is  in  Paradise.  The  partition 
once  broken  down,  what  shall  binder  an  immediate 
view  of  all  beyond?  And  oh,  what  a  morning  is  that 
day-break  of  glory  !  The  sun  of  righteousness  shines 
in  all  its  brightness.  It  is  the  effulgence  of  Christ's 
person  which  lights  up  that  whole  far-stretching  world, 
and  sheds  a  quickening  radiance  on  every  resident 

\.  Clarke. 


tit)  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

there.  If,  two  thousand  years  before  Christ's  coming 
on  earth,  Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  his  day,  what  must 
be  the  joy  of  seeing  him  as  he  now  is,  at  the  right 
hand  of  majesty,  in  the  heavens ! 

"Stray  beams  of  his  lustre  often  fall  on  the  dying 
believer  before  his  soul  leaves  its  tenement.  '  This 
is  heaven  begun,'  said  Rev.  Thomas  Scott;  'I  have 
clone  with  darkness,  forever — forever.  Satan  is  van- 
quished. Nothing  now  remains  but  salvation,  with 
eternal  glory — eternal  glory.' 

"  Come  to  the  veranda  of  a  Braminic  temple.  In 
the  last  spasms  of  Asiatic  cholera,  Gordon  Hall  cries, 
'Glory,  glory,  glory!'  and  he 

'  Passed  through  Glory's  morning  gate. 
And  walked  in  Paradise.' 

"'Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord,  from 
henceforth!'  Blessed  are  the  dead — not  survivors, 
not  the  most  favored  of  those  who  remain  here,  still 
sinning  and  repenting,  and  so  imperfectly  serving 
God — but  blessed  are  the  dead  in  Christ  who  have 
ceased  from  sin,  are  made  perfect  in  holiness,  and 
have  passed  into  Paradise."* 

"  Life  makes  the  soul  dependent  on  the  dust, 

Death  gives  her  wings  to  mount  above  the  spheres. 

»  *''•*.*•,•*•• 

Death  wounds  to  cure: — we  fall, — we  rise, — we  reign! 
Spring  from  our  fetters,  fasten  in  the  skies. 
Whore  blooming  Kilcn  withers  in  our  sight. 
Death  gives  us  more  than  was  in  Eden  lo-t : — 
This  king  of  terrors  is  the  prince  of  Peace. " 

When  DR.  FISK  was  about  to  depart,  he  was  heard 

*Thoni]  >  >nn's  ••  Detter  Land." 


HEIXC    AFTER    DEATH.  tiT 

to  exclaim,  "from  a  chair  to  a  throne."*  To  his  fond 
wife  whom  he  saw  weeping,  he  said,  "Do  not  suppose 
that  your  husband  will  be  buried  in  the  cold,  dark 
earth  of  the  college  cemetery;  this  emaciated,  suffer- 
ing body  may  be  laid  there  to  sleep,  but  your  husband 
cannot  be  buried.  I  shall  be  unspeakably  happy  with 
Christ  in  heaven." 

The  Rev.  C.  Love,  minister  at  Lawrence  Jewry,  in 
London,  was  beheaded  on  Tower  Hill,  Aug.  22,  1651, 
in  the  time  of  Cromwell,  for  being  suspected  of  plot- 
ting against  the  government.  While  standing  on  the 
scaffold  he  uttered  the  following  most  pathetic  and 
weighty  remarks : 

"Although  there  be  but  little  between  me  and 
death,  yet  this  bears  up  my  heart,  there  is  little  be- 
tween me  and  heaven. 

It  comforted  Dr.  Taylor,  the  martyr,  when  he  was 
going  to  execution,  that  there  was  but  two  stiles  be- 
tween him  and  his  Father's  house — but  two  steps 
between  me  and  glory.  It  is  but  lying  down  upon 
that  block  and  I  shall  ascend  upon  a  throne.  I  am 
this  day  sailing  toward  the  ocean  of  eternity — through 
a  rough  passage  to  my  haven  of  rest ;  through  a  red 
sea  to  the  promised  land. 
####*## 

"Behold  I  am  this  day  making  a  double  exchange; 
I  am  changing  a  pulpit  for  a  scaffold,  and  a 
scaffold  for  a  throne;  and  I  might  add  a  third — I  am 
changing  the  presence  of  this  numerous  multitude  on 
Tower  Hill  for  the  innumerable  company  of  saints 
and  angels  in  heaven,  the  holy  hill  of  Zion — and  I 
am  changing  a  guard  of  soldiers  for  a  guard  of  angels, 

lie  was  unable  to  lie  down,  and  died  sitting  in  a  chair. 


68  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

which  will  receive  me  and  carry  me  to  Abraham's 
bosom.  This  scaffold  is  the  best  pulpit  that  ever  I 
preached  in.  In  my  church  pulpit,  God,  through  his 
grace,  made  me  an  instrument  to  bring  others  to 
heaven;  but  in  this  pulpit,  he  will  bring  me  to 
heaven." 

Such  has  been  the  hope  of  God's  people  in  everj 
age.  In  this  hope  they  lived,  and  in  it  they  died. 
And  oh  how  disappointed  if,  instead  of  a  convoy  of 
angels,  and  the  opening  glories  of  the  eternal  day. 
they  drank  the  lethean  draught  of  annihilation,  and 
sank  down  to  non-existence ;  or  found  a  long  home 
amid  unbroken  silence  and  corruption !  What  a 
doctrine  to  teach  as  the  gospel  of  Christ ! 

If  this  theory  be  true,  how  dreary  is  eternity !  Its 
"whole  family  in  heaven,"  Eph.  iii.  15,  consists  of 
Enoch  and  Elijah  who  were  translated,  and  Christ 
and  those  who  arose  after  his  resurrection.  There  is 
no  "world  of  spirits  bright;"  and  eternity  is  well  nigl 
void.  And  the  materialism  that  consigns  the  soul  of 
man  to  the  dust,  implies  the  non-existence  of  angels 
as  well;  and,  indeed,  if  carried  out  to  its  logica' 
consequences,  must  blot  out  the  Infinite  Spirit  him- 
self! 

This  modern  Sadduceeism  denies  all  distinctior 
between  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  till  the  genera! 
resurrection.  Not  only  have  the  old  saints,  am 
patriarchs,  and  prophets  been  waiting  for  ages,  with- 
out as  yet  a  ray  of  light,  or  a  gleam  of  consc-iuiu 
being;  but  they  lia\c  yet  to  wait  till  the  end  of  time, 
And  the  wicked  are  no  worse  off.  With  all  the  differ- 
ence there  is  in  the  present  life,  and  the  difference 
that  will  exist  hereafter,  we  are  told  that  for  aires  l»e- 


CONSCIOUS    BEIXU    AFTER   DEATH.  69 

tween  death  and  the  resurrection,  there  is  no  differ- 
ence whatever!  Both  are  wrapped  alike  in  the  tran- 
quil slumbers  of  non-existence ! 

IX.  In  harmony  with  the  preceding  representation, 
that  the  souls  of  the  righteous  ascend  at  once  to  Para- 
dise when  the  body  dies,  the  book  of  Revelation  repre- 
sents the  righteous  dead  as  already  "before  the 
throne,"  singing  and  praising  God  in  the  land  of  life. 
They  are  a  great  multitude,  of  all  nations,  and  kind- 
reds, and  people  and  tongues — are  clothed  with  white 
robes,  and  have  palms  in  their  hands.  "  These  are 
they  which  came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have 
washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb.  Therefore  are  they  before  the  throne 
of  God,  and  serve  him  day  and  night  in  his  temple  : 
and  he  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  shall  dwell  among 
them.  They  shall  hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any 
more ;  neither  shall  the  sun  light  on  them,  nor  any 
heat.  For  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them  unto  living 
fountains  of  waters :  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all 
tears  from  their  eyes." 

Happy  dwellers  in  that  "better  country!" 

Every  tear  is  wiped  away, 

Sighs  no  more  shall  heave  the  breast; 

Night  is  lost  in  endless  day, 
Sorrow  in  eternal  rest. 

Now  all  these  Apocalyptic  views  of  the  heavenly 
world  (of  which  there  are  many)  are  essentially  wrong, 
and  misleading,  unless  it  be  true  that  the  souls  of  the 
righteous  dead  are  now  happy  with  Christ  in  heaven, 
though  their  bodies  slumber  in  the  grave.  For  let  it 
not  be  forgotten,  that  the  scene  is  laid  beyond  the 


70  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

region  of  sorrow,  tears  and  death ;  consequently  the 
descriptions  can  apply  to  no  assembly  this  side  the 
tomb.  They  are  our  happy  brethren,  who,  like  Moses, 
have  crossed  the  flood,  and  entered  Canaan,  though 
their  bodies  still,  sleep  in  the  vale  of  death. 

No  oppressive  heat  they  feel, 

From  the  sun's  directer  ray  ; 
In  a  milder  clime  they  dwell, 

Region  of  eternal  day. 

X.  Answering  to  the  representation  that  the  souls 
of  the  righteous  are  now  happy  with  Christ  in  Para- 
dise, we  have  the  further  representation  that  THE"* 
ARE  TO  RETURN  WITH  HIM,  when  he  comes  to  raist 
the  dead  and  judge  the  world.  Zechariah  says,  "  Anc 
the  Lord  my  God  shall  come,  and  ALL  THE  SAINTS 
WITH  THEE,"  Ch.  xiv.  5.  St.  Jude  informs  us  thai 
Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  prophesied  of  thes< 
things,  saying,  "  Behold  the  Lord  cometh  WITH  TEJ 
THOUSAND  OF  HIS  SAINTS,  to  execute  judgment  upor 
all,  etc.,"  Jude  14,  15,  and  St.  Paul  inculcates  th< 
same  doctrine  when  he  speaks  of  "  the  coming  of  oui 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  WITH  ALL  HIS  SAINTS,"  1  Thess.  iii 
13.  Now  what,  we  ask,  are  these  "saints"  that  ar< 
to  come  with  Christ  at  his  second  appearing,  if  the^ 
are  not  the  souls  of  his  people  who  have  been  witl 
him  in  Paradise  during  the  intermediate  period  be 
tween  death  and  the  resurrection  ?  They  cannot  b< 
the  bodies  of  his  saints,  for  they  will  not  be  raised  til 
Christ  arrives,  and  therefore  cannot  come  with  him 
It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  they  are  the  souls  of  th< 
righteous  dead  who  have  been  in  Paradise. with  hin 
for  ages,  and  who  now  return  with  him  as  he  comes  t< 
raise  their  bodies  to  glory  and  immortality. 


CONSCIOUS  BEING  AFTER  DEATH.        71 

Hark  !  the  Judgment  trumpet  calb  ! 

Lord,  rebuild  thy  house  of  clay. 
Immortality  thy  walls. 

And  eternity  thy  Jay. 

Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  still  lived  in  the  time  of 
Moses,  though  their  bodies  had  long  been  dead.  The 
penitent  thief  was  with  Christ  in  Paradise  before  the 
twelfth  hour  of  the  day  of  the  crucifixion,  though  the 
bodies  of  both  were  on  earth,  under  the  dominion  of 
death.  Lazarus  passed  at  once  to  Abraham's  bosom, 
and  the  rich  man  to  the  torments  of  hell  immediately 
after  death.  Men  cannot  kill  the  soul ;  for  whether 
we  sleep  or  wake  we  shall  live  together  with  Christ. 
Moses  was  with  Christ  on  the  mount,  though  his  body 
still  slumbered  in  the  valley  of  Moab.  The  righteous 
depart  at  death  to  be  with  Christ ;  and  the  dead,  who 
die  in  the  Lord,  are  blessed  from  henceforth.  A  part 
of  the  family  of  God  yet  dwell  on  earth ;  but  others 
are  with  Christ  in  glory.  0  blessed  and  glorious 
truth ! 

One  family  we  dwell  in  Him, 

One  church  above,  beneath, 
Though  now  divided  by  the  stream, 

The  narrow  stream  of  death. 

The  sainted  dead  are  already  before  the  throne, 
and  serve  God  day  and  night  in  his  temple  ;  and  when 
Christ  shall  appear  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  to  raise 
the  dead,  and  burn  the  world,  and  judge  all  men  and 
angels,  these  "saints"  shall  attend  him  down  his 
starry  pathway,  to  re-enter  their  bodies,  now  made 
incorruptible  and  glorious,  and  for  the  redemption  of 
which  they  have  so  long  waited.  Rom.  viii.  23.  Thus 
fully  redeemed  from  death  shall  they  ascend  to  the 


72  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

heaven  of  heavens,  to  be  forever  with  the  Lord. 
Then  shall  the  gates  lift  up  their  heads,  and  the  ever- 
lasting doors  be  lifted  up ;  and  the  King  of  Glory, 
with  his  people  shall  enter  in,  to  dwell  in  God's  pres- 
ence FOREVER  !  May  both  writer  and  reader  be  found 
in  that  glorious  procession 


ALLEGED  SLEEP  OF  SOULS.          73 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE    ALLEGED    SLEEP   OF   THE    SOUL   BETWEEN   DEATH 
AND    THE    RESURRECTION. 

BESIDES  adducing  the  direct  Scripture  proofs  of  the 
soul's  immortality,  it  is  proper  to  notice  in  this  connec- 
tion, certain  new  and  peculiar  views  upon  this  subject, 
recently  promulgated  in  this  country  and  in  England. 
Heretofore,  Deism  has  usually  denied  both  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body ; 
not  because  these  doctrines  were  not  taught  in  the 
Bible,  but  rather  because  they  were  therein  taught. 
Denying  the  truth  of  the  Scriptures,  and  spurning  all 
their  teachings,  it  claimed  to  follow  Reason  and  Na- 
ture, and  thence  to  derive  proof  that  when  a  man  dies 
that  is  his  end  forever. 

But  within  a  few  years  past  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  unite  the  most  pernicious  features  of  Deism 
with  one  or  two  Bible  truths  ;  and  to  inculcate  the 
whole  as  the  veritable  teachings  of  divine  revelation. 
Thus  we  are  told,  by  men  professing  to  believe  the 
Bible  that  man  has  no  spiritual  nature  whatever  dis- 
tinct from  his  body ;  and  that  when  that  is  dissolved 
by  death,  what  is  called  the  soul  or  mind  goes  out 
like  an  expiring  lamp.  Thus  far  they  go  hand  in 
hand  with  the  old  Deists ;  and  with  these  fatal  errors 
they  connect  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the 


74  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

body,  when  that  which  is  called  the  "soul,"  say  they, 
will  be  again  evolved,  and  rewards  and  punishments 
will  ensue.  To  this  is  added  the  notion  that  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked  will  consist  of  their  utter 
destruction  of  being,  or  annihilation,  at  the  final  judg- 
ment. 

These  are  what  we  call  new  and  strange  doctrines 
— a  sort  of  hybrid  theology  or  cross,  between  open  in- 
fidelity and  Bible  Christianity.  As  the  advocates  of 
this  mixed  theory  profess  to  respect  the  Scriptures, 
it  is  quite  natural  that  they  should  attempt  to  press 
them  into  their  service.  It  is  altogether  proper, 
then,  in  a  treatise  like  this,  to  notice  these  ano- 
malous attempts  to  prove  the  non-immortality,  or 
literal  death  of  the  soul  from  the  Sacred  Writings. 
The  present  chapter,  therefore,  will  be  devoted  to  the 
alleged  Scripture  proofs  that  the  soul  or  spirit  of  man 
is  but  a  result  of  animal  organization,  and  becomes 
extinct  at  the  death  of  the  body. 

1.  It  is  alleged  that,  as  a  general  rule,  Ave  are  to 
understand  the  Scriptures  in  their  literal  sense.  It 
is  also  affirmed  that  the  original  terms  rendered  soul, 
spirit,  and  ghost,  literally  signify  wind  or  breath  ;  and 
that,  therefore,  when  applied  to  man,  they  mean  no 
more  than  the  literal  breath  which  leaves  the  bodv  at 
death.  In  reply  to  this  view  we  answer,  that  to  give 
a  literal  interpretation  to  all  the  terms,  and  phrases, 
and  figures  of  the  Bible,  is  not  only  to  understand  it 
as  we  interpret  no  other  book,  but  to  turn  it  into  non- 
sense. It  is  quite  true  that  most  of  the  terms  em- 
ployed to  represent  spiritual  things  were  first  used  to 
represent  material  objects  ;  but  are  they,  therefor 
be  taken  in  their  literal  and  material  sense?  Takr. 


ALLEGED  SLEEP  OF  SOULS.          75 

for  example,  the  Greek  term  pneuma,  which  pri- 
marily signifies  wind  or  air ;  must  we,  therefore,  al- 
ways adhere  to  this  original  meaning  ?  "  God  is  a 
Spirit"  (pneuma)  John  iv.  24.  Is  he,  therefore,  mere 
wind,  or  air,  or  breath  ?  In  Acts  v.  3,  the  term  ren- 
dered Holy  Ghost  is  pneuma.  Rom.  viii.  16,  where  it 
is  said,  "  the  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our 
Spirit,"  the  phrase  is  Pneuma  me  to  pneuma,  the 
same  term  being  employed  to  represent  the  human 
and  Divine  Spirit.  1  Cor.  ii.  10,  11,  the  term  pneuma 
is  once  used  to  denote  "the  spirit  of  a  man,"  and 
thrice,  in  the  same  connection,  to  denote  the  Spirit  of 
God — pneuma  ton  Theou.  So,  also,  chapter  6,  verse 
20,  the  terms  rendered  Spirit  of  God  are,  pneuma  ton 
Theou.  Unless,  therefore,  the  Spirit  of  God  is  mere 
wind,  air  or  breath,  the  term  pneuma  must  be  under- 
stood to  mean  something  more  than  this  material  sub- 
stance. And,  if  it  means  a  pure  spirit,  when  applied 
to  the  Deity,  must  it  not  be  taken  in  the  same  sense 
when,  in  the  very  same  passage,  it  is  applied  to  man  ? 
Would  the  Holy  Ghost  use  the  term  pneuma  in  the 
sense  of  a  pure  spirit  in  one  line,  and  in  the  sense  of 
mere  wind  or  breath  in  the  next  ?  Most  certainly 
not. 

There  is  another  process  by  which  we  may  test  the 
correctness  of  the  literalists'  theory  that  the  terms 
rendered  soul  and  spirit  mean  simply  the  breath — a 
process  which  even  the  unlearned  cannot  fail  to  un- 
derstand. If  the  original  terms  rendered  "  soul"  and 
"spirit"  in  our  English  Scriptures  mean  simply 
the  breath,  then  if  we  put  the  word  "breath"  in 
the  place  of  the  words  "soul"  and  "spirit,"  wher- 
ever they  occur,  our  "bad  translation"  (so  called) 


76  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

will  be  rectified ;  and  the  texts  cited  will  convey  to 
us  their  true  meaning.  Let  us  translate  a  IVw  pas- 
sages according  to  this  theory.  And,  first,  a  few 
samples  in  which  the  word  SOUL  occurs,  putting  the 
word  BREATH,  in  the  place  of  SOUL. 

Psalm  xix.  7 : — "  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect, 
converting  the  BREATH."  Psalin  Ixxxvi.  4: — "Re- 
joice the  BREATH  of  thy  servant :  for  unto  thee,  0 
Lord,  do  I  lift  up  my  BREATH."  Psalm  cvi.  15: — 
"  And  he  gave  them  their  request ;  but  sent  leanness 
into  their  BREATHS."  Matt.  x.  28: — "And  fear  not 
them  which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the 
BREATH  :  but  rather  fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy 
both  BREATH  and  body  in  hell."  Matt.  xxvi.  35: — 
"  Then  said  he  unto  them,  my  BREATH  is  sorrowful 
even  unto  death."  Luke  xii.  19  : — "  And  I  will  say 
to  my  BREATH,  BREATH,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up 
for  many  years."  1  Thess.  v.  23: — "And  I  pray 
God  your  whole  spirit  and  BREATH  and  body  be  pre- 
served blameless,  etc."  Heb.  vi.  19: — "Which  hope 
we  have  as  an  anchor  to  the  BREATH."  Heb.  x.  39  : — 

"  But  we  are of  them  that  believe  to  the  saving  of 

the  BREATH."  James  v.  20  : — "  Let  him  know  that  he 
which  converteth  a  sinner  from  the  error  of  his  way 
shall  save  a  BREATH  from  death,  etc."  2  Peter  ii. 
8 : — "  Lot  dwelling  in  Sodom,  vexed  his  righteous 
BREATH  from  day  to  day." 

In  the  following  specimens  the  word  BREATH  is  put 
in  the  place  of  SPIRIT,  with  which  it  is  said  to  be 
synonymous : — 

Job  xxxii.  18: — "For  I  am  full  of  matter;  the 
BREATH  within  me  constraincth  me."  Eccl.  iii.  21 : — 
"  Who  knoweth  the  BREATH  of  man  that  goeth  up- 


ALLKiiED    SLEEP    OF    SOULS.  77 

ward,  and  the  BREATH  of  the  beast  that  goeth  down- 
Avar  d  to  the  earth."  Acts  xxiii.  8:  —  "For  the 
Sadducees  say  there  is  no  resurrection,  neither  angel, 
nor  BREATH;  but  the  Pharisees  confess  both."  Also, 
verse  9: — "If  a  BREATH  or  an  angel  hath  spoken  to 
him."  Rom.  ii.  29: — "Circumcision  is  that  of  the 
heart,  in  the  BREATH;"  and  viii.  1(3: — "The  BREATH 
itself  beareth  witness  Avith  our  BREATH  that  we  are 
the  children  of  God."  1  Cor.  ii.  11: — "For  what  man 
knoweth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the  BREATH  of  a 
man  that  is  in  him?"  1  Cor.  v.  5: — "To  deliver  such 
a  one  unto  Satan — that  the  BREATH  may  be  saved  in 
the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  1  Cor.  vi.  5  : — "  For  ye 
are  bought  with  a  price;  therefore  glorify  God  in 
your  body  and  BREATH  which  are  his."  2  Cor.  vii.  1 : — 
"Let  us  cleanse  ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  the 
flesh  and  BREATH."  Gal.  vi.  15: — "Brethren,  the 
grace  of  our  Load  Jesus  Christ  be  Avith  your  BREATH. 
Amen."* 

Such  is  the  havoc  which  this  wild  and  unscriptural 
theory  makes  with  the  word  of  God;  for  if  the  original 
terms  rendered  "soul"  and  "spirit"  mean  the  literal 
breath,  it  is  altogether  proper  and  fair  to  put  breath 
in  their  place  ;  whereupon  the  Bible  becomes  one  of 
the  most  unintelligible,  not  to  say  ridiculous  pro- 
ductions, that  ever  was  Avritten.  There  is  no  alterna- 

*  Nothing  would  justify  the  exhibition  of  the  Scriptures  in  so  ridieu- 
lous  a  light,  but  a  desire  to  explode  one  of  the  popular  assumptions  of 
the  Annihilationists  in  the  briefest  possible  space,  by  exposing  the 
absurdity  of  their  principles.  If  there  be.  therefore,  a  seeming  want 
of  dignity  and  reverence  for  the  Scriptures  in  these  illustrative  ex- 
ample?, it  is  clue  to  the  false  principles  that  we  combat,  and  not  to  any 
unfairness  or  wnnt  of  candor  in  their  application.  We  have  simply 
nn -\veied  the  Annihilati-iiist-  luvunling  to  their  fullv. 


78  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

tive :  we  must  cither  accept  all  this  absurdity  as  the 
true  meaning  of  the  Scriptures,  or  reject  the  absurd 
principle  of  interpretation  from  which  these  conse- 
quences flow;  and  with  the  exploding  of  the  principle, 
the  whole  argument  falls  to  the  ground. 

II.  It  is  argued  that  if  the  soul  is  a  part  of  man, 
and  men  die,  the  soul  must  die  as  well  as  the  body; 
otherwise    the    man    does    not    die.     This    reasoning 
might  appear  sound,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the 
Scriptures  guard  against  such  an  error  by  teaching, 
as  we  have  shown  in  chapter  iv.,  that   the  death  of  a 
human   being   is   but   the  separation   of  his   two-fold 
nature, — the  soul  and  body — and  the  extinction  of  his 
animal  life.     And  even  without  this  special   instruc- 
tion as  to  the  nature  of  death,  the  above  argument  is 
fallacious  on  another  account,  insomuch  as  it  assumes 
that  whatever  is  affirmed  of  a  human  being,  is  affirmed 
of  each  and  every  part  of  that  being.     We  affirm  that 
a  man  is  asleep,  and  yet  his   spirit  may  be  awake  in 
dreams,   or    somnambulism.      So   we  may  say  he   is 
sick;  but  we  do  not  thereby  affirm   that  his  soul  is 
sick.     We  habitually  affirm  that  of  man,  which  is  true 
of  any  part  of  him.     Man  being  a  compound  being, 
we  can  scarce  avoid  this  mode  of  expression.     As  we 
affirm    of   Christ  whatever   is    true  of   either  of   his 
natures,  so  of  man ; — we  say  he  is  intelligent,  without 
affirming  that  his  body  is  intelligent.     In  the   same 
manner  we  affirm  that  he  dies,  without   in  the  least 
implying  that  his  soul  dies.      The  dust   may  return  to 
the,  earth  as  it  was,  but  the  spirit  returns  to  God  who 
gave  it.   Eccl.  xii.  7. 

III.  It  is  affirmed  that  the  numerous  Scriptures  in 
which  death   is   sjokni  of  as  a  sleep,  convey  the  idea 


ALLEGED    SI. ill- I1    OF    SOULS.  79 

of  the  extinction  of  the  soul  at  death.  "  The  sleep 
of  the  soul  after  death,"  says  Bishop  Hobart,  "in  that 
sense  which  supposes  it  to  be  unconscious,  is  a  modern 
invention,  unknown  to  the  ancient  popular  creed  of 
both  Jews  and  heathens,  repugnant  to  reason,  and 
contradicted  by  Scripture."* 

The  term  sleep,  when  applied  to  death,  must  either 
be  understood  literally  or  figwativety.  But  it  cannot 
be  understood  literally,  because  in  literal  sleep  the 
animal  life  is  not  extinguished;  the  functions  of  but 
few  of  the  bodily  organs  are  suspended;  the  body 
does  not  tend  to  decay;  and  the  subject  maybe  easily 
roused  again  to  wakefulness.  None  of  these  are  true 
of  the  dead ;  consequently  the  sleep  of  death  is  not  a 
literal  sleep. 

Again:  If  death  were  a  literal  sleep,  it  would  by 
no  means  imply  unconsciousness,  much  less  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  soul;  for  in  sleep  we  think,  and  reason, 
and  hope,  and  fear,  and  enjoy,  and  suffer  in  our 
dreams,  as  really  as  when  we  are  awake.  Such  a 
sleep,  therefore,  would  fall  far  short  of  the  material- 
ists idea  of  the  sleep  of  the  soul  at  death.  For 
natural  sleep  is  not  only  perfectly  compatible  with 
continued  consciousness,  but  absolutely  implies  the 
perpetuity  of  our  conscious  being,  under  circumstances 
of  renewed  vigor  and  activity.  "If  he  sleep,"  said 
the  disciples  of  Lazarus,  "he  shall  do  well."  Men 
sleep  to  increase  and  not  to  extinguish  the  mental 
and  physical  energies. 

"The  comparison  between  the  state  of  the  dead, 
and  a  state  of  sleep,  is  beautiful  and  appropriate. 
Sleep  is  that  relaxation  from  the  toils  and  afflictions 

*  State  of  the  Departed.  \,.  Is. 


80  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOU-L. 

of  life,  that  short  suspension  of  the  powers  of  corporeal 
sense  and  action,  which  are  succeeded  by  a  more 
vigorous  exercise  of  the  animal  and  intellectual 
faculties.  And  so  death,  releasing  us  entirely  from 
our  conflicts  with  the  trials  of  this  mortal  existence, 
and  suspending  all  the  corporeal  functions,  is  followed 
by  a  reviviscence  of  our  whole  nature,  in  the  active 
delights  and  unalloyed  glories  of  the  heavenly  state."* 

It  is  safe,  therefore,  to  affirm,  that  death  cannot  be 
a  literal  sleep ;  and  that  if  it  were  it  would  rather 
support  than  conflict  with  the  doctrine  of  the  conscious 
existence  of  the  soul  after  death. 

But  if  death  is  not  literally  a  sleep,  it  can  only  be 
so  figuratively.  In  metaphorical  language  we  call 
one  thing  by  the  name  of  another,  on  account  of  cer- 
tain resemblances  between  the  two.  It  is  only  a 
short  way  of  making  a  comparison.  Thus  Christ  is 
called  a  lion,  a  lamb,  a  rock,  a  vine,  a  shepherd,  bread, 
&c.  So  as  the  death  of  a  body  in  several  respects 
resembles  its  falling  asleep,  the  term  "sleep"  is  em- 
ployed metaphorically  to  represent  death:  without  in 
the  slightest  degree  implying  the  extinction  of  thought 
and  consciousness. 

"The  expression  sleep,  or  sleeping,  so  frequently 
applied  in  Scripture  to  the  state  of  the  dead,  is  evi- 
dently metaphorical;  derived  from  the  resemblance 
between  a  dead  body,  and  the  body  of  a  person  asleep. 
The  body  is  said  figuratively  to  "sleep  in  the  dust  of 
the  earth;"  expecting  a  resurrection  at  that  day, 
when  the  dead,  both  small  and  great,  shall  be  sum- 
moned to  stand  before  God.  Hence  the  word  ceme- 
tery, and  dormitory,  from  the  Greek  and  Latin  words 

*  State  of  the  J)i>])»rtiMl.  j,.  4',. 


ALLEGED  SLEEP  OF  SOULS.          81 

and  dormio,  to  sleep,  are  applied  to  the  re- 
ceptacles of  the  dead." 

"The  term  sleep,  applied  to  the  state  of  the  dead, 
denotes  not  unconsciousness,  but  a  freedom  from  the 
cure*  and  labors  of  life;  and,  as  it  respects  the  right- 
eous, expresses  comfortable  enjoyment,  rest,  security, 
and  felicity.  It  is  a  phrase  by  which,  in  all  lan- 
guages, the  state  of  the  dead  is  denoted.  And  yet 
the  popular  belief  among  all  nations,  assigns/conscious- 
ness and  activity  to  the  departed."* 

IV.  Psa.  xxxvii.  9,  10: — "For  evil  doers  shall  be 
cut  off:  but  those  that  wait  upon  the  LORD,  they  shall 
inherit  the  earth.  For  yet  a  little  while,  and  the 
wicked  shall  not  be:  yea,  thou  shalt  diligently  con- 
sider his  place,  and  it  shall  not  be." 

From  this  passage  it  is  argued  that  death  is  a 
itionof  conscious  existence.  But  who  does  not 
see  that  the  expression  "shall  not  be,''  is  the  same 
as  that  the  wicked  shall  be  "cut  off;"  or  shall  not 
"inherit  .the  earth?"  The  idea  is,  that  the  wicked 
shall  not  live  out  half  their  days,  and  shall  soon  dis- 
appear from  the  earth.  And  all  that  is  said  of  him, 
is  said  of  "his  place."  Of  both  alike  it  is  said,  they 
"shall  not  be."  And  it  is  still  further  evident  that 
the  whole  relates  to  the  present  life,  from  what  fol- 
lows in  the  next  verse: — li;But  the  meek  shall  inherit 
the  earth;  and  shall  delight  themselves  in  the  abun- 
dance of  peace."  It  would  be  quite  as  logical,  there- 
fore, to  infer  that  the  righteous  shall  live  here  forever, 
because  it  is  said  they  shall  inherit  the  earth ;  as  to 
argue  that  the  wicked  shall  cease  to  exist  altogether, 

*  State  of  the  Departed,  p.  45. 


82  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

because   they  are  not  to   inherit  the  earth,  but   to  be 
cut  off. 

V.  Ecel.    iii.    18-20,    has    often   been   quoted    to 
show  that  man  like  the  brute,  has  no  soul  that  will 
outlive  the  body.      "  I  said   in  mine  heart  concerning 
the  estate  of  the  sons  of  men,  that  God  might  mani- 
fest   them,  and  that  they  might  see  that  they  them- 
selves are  beasts.     For  that  which  befalleth  the  sons 
of  men  befalleth  beasts;    even  one  thing  befalleth 
them :  as  the  one  dieth*,  so  dieth  the  other ;  yea,  they 
have  all  one  breath;  so  that  a  man  hath  no  pre-emi- 
nence above  a  beast :   for  all  is  vanity.     All  go  unto 
one  place;  all  are  of  the  dust,  and  all  turn  to  dust 
again." 

Two  things  are  observable  respecting  this  text. 
First,  it  purports  to  be  but  a  meditation  or  reflection  of 
the  writer.  "  I  said  in  mine  heart,  etc.  ;"  and  is  more 
of  the  nature  of  a  temptation  to  unbelief  respecting  a 
future  state  than  any  thing  else.  In  the  next  place, 
lest  it  should  be  misunderstood,  and  used  as  it  some- 
times has  been  by  modern  materialists,  it  is  added  in 
the  very  next  verse,  "  Who  knoweth  the  spirit  of 
man  that  goeth  upward,  and  the  spirit  of  the  beast 
that  goeth  downward  to  the  earth?'' 

It  is  thus  shown  that  the  deaths  of  the  sons  of  men 
and  of  beasts  are  alike  only  so  far  as  their  bodies  are 
concerned ;  while  they  are  very  unlike  as  to  their 
spiritual  natures.  While  one,  like  the  bodies  with 
which  they  are  connected,  "goeth  downward  to  the 
earth,"  the  other  "goeth  upward,"  or  "returns  to 
God  who  gave  it."  Ch.  xii.  7. 

VI.  Psalm  vi.  4 : — "  Return   0  Lord,  deliver  my 
soul :  oh  save  me  for  thy  mercies'  sake.     For  in  death 


ii    SLEEP    OF    SdCLS.  83 

there  is  no  remembrance   of  thee :    in  the  grave  who 
shall  give  thee  thanks?" 

The  prayer  of  the  Psalmist  that  God  would  save 
him,  is  here  m*ged  upon  the  ground  that  it  will  be  too 
late  after  death.  This  is  the  obvious  import  of  the 
passage.  The  "remembrance"  and  "  thanks"  men- 
tioned, are,  therefore,  such  as  are  required  in  this 
world,  as  conditions  of  salvation.  Such  are  not  to  be 
found  in  death  or  the  grave  ;  hence  the  earnest  prayer 
for  salvation  while  it  might  be  found.  There  can  be 
no  such  remembrance  of  God  or  thanksgiving  to  him 
in  death  or  the  grave. 

VII.  Psalm  cxv.  17,  18 : — "  The  dead  praise  not 
the  Lord,  neither  any  that  go  down  into  silence.     But 
we  will  bless  the  Lord  from  this  time  forth  and  for 
evermore." 

If  the  first  of  these  passages  teaches  that  the  dead 
have  no  knowledge  of  God,  the  second  certainly  con- 
tradicts it,  unless  the  Psalmist  expected  to  live  in  this 
world  "/or  evermore ;"  for  such  was  to  be  the  dura- 
tion of  his  praise.  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  in  this 
passage,  like  the  one  preceding,  the  meaning  is  that 
none  of  the  dead  repent  and  turn  to  the  Lord,  and 
thus  first  begin  to  praise  him  ;  while  the  righteous,  like 
David,  can  still  say, 

My  days  of  praise  shall  ne'er  be  past, 
While  life,  and  thought,  and  being  last, 
Or  immortality  endures. 

VIII.  Eel.  ix.  4-6  : — "  For  to  him  that  is  joined  to 
all  the  living  there  is  hope :  for  a  living  dog  is  better 
than  a   dead   lion.      For   the   living  know  that   they 
shall  die :  but  the  dead  know  not  any  thing,  neither 


84  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

have  they  any  more  a  reward ;  for  the  memory  of 
them  is  forgotten.  Also  their  love,  and  their  hatred, 
and  their  envy,  is  now  perished ;  neither  have  they 
any  more  a  portion  for  ever  in  any  thing  that  is  done 
under  the  sun." 

It  requires  very  little  effort  to  see  that  this  text,  like 
the  two  preceding,  has  reference  solely  to  what  the  dead 
can  know,  or  do,  or  receive,  of  any  thing  "  under  the 
sun;"  that  is  in  this  world.  The  last  two  verses  are 
simply  explanatory  of  the  statement  of  the  first,  that 
our  hope  and  interest  in  all  things  earthly,  are  limited 
to  this  short  and  transitory  life.  The  passage  has  no 
bearing,  therefore,  upon  the  question  whether  or  not 
the  soul  is  conscious  after  the  body  dies. 

IX.  Isaiah  xxxviii.  17,  18  : — "  Behold,  for  peace  I 
had  great  bitterness,  but  thou  hast  in  love  to  my  soul 
delivered  it  from  the  pit  of  corruption :  for  thou  hast 
cast  all  my  sins  behind  thy  back.  For  the  grave 
cannot  praise  thee,  death  cannot  celebrate  thee :  they 
that  go  down  into  the  pit  cannot  hope  for  thy  truth. 
The  living,  the  living,  he  shall  praise  thee,  as  I  do 
this  day  :  the  father  to  the  children  shall  make  known 
thy  truth." 

The  subject  of  this  passage  is  the  same  as  in  the 
three  preceding — the  necessity  of  timely  repentance 
and  pardon.  The  Psalmist  was  grateful  to  God  that 
though  once  in  "great  bitterness,"  his  soul  had  been 
"  delivered"  by  the  pardon  of  his  sins.  And  he  mag- 
nifies the  grace  of  God  by  the  consideration  that 
mercy  came  before  it  was  too  late.  "  The  grave 
cannot  praise  thee,"  or  turn  to  the  service  of  God; 
the  dead  "cannot  hope  for  thy  truth."  It  is  too  late 
then  to  hear  the  voice  of  warning.  "  The  living," 


ALLEGED    SLEEP    OF  85 

alone  are  thus  privileged ;   and  to  them  only  can  men 
"make  known  thy  truth." 

Acts  ii.  34  : — "  For  David  is  not  yet  ascended  into 
the  heavens,  etc."  The  argument  founded  upon  this 
ige  is  that  as  David's  spirit  had  not  ascended  into 
the  heavens,  it  must  have  been  slumbering  in  the 
grave  with  his  body ;  and,  therefore,  the  doctrine  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul  cannot  be  true.  But  un- 
fortunately for  the  argument,  the  whole  drift  of  the 
context  shows  that  Peter  was  speaking  of  David's 
body  and  not  of  his  soul.  The  subject  under  con- 
sideration is  the  resurrection  of  Christ ;  and  the  apos- 
tle affirms  first,  that  Christ  had  been  raised  from  the 
dead.  "  Whom  God  hath  raised  up,  having  loosed  the 
pains  of  death  :  because  it  was  not  possible  that  he 
should  be  holden  of  it."  Verse  24.  In  the  second 
place,  he  shows  why  it  was  not  possible  that  Christ 
should  be  holden  of  death.  "  For  David  speaketh 
concerning  him,  I  foresaw  the  Lord  always  before  my 
face ;  for  he  is  on  my  right  hand,  that  I  should  not 
be  moved :  therefore  did  my  heart  rejoice,  and  my 
tongue  was  glad  ;  moreover  also  my  flesh  shall  rest  in 
hope :  because  thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  hell, 
neither  wilt  thou  suffer  thine  Holy  One  to  see  corrup- 
tion. Thou  hast  made  known  to  me  the  ways  of  life  ; 
thou  shalt  make  me  full  of  joy  with  thy  countenance." 
Verses  25-28. 

This  prophecy,  it  is  then  urged,  did  not  relate  to 
David  personally,  but  to  Christ,  the  seed  of  David. 
'•  Men  and  brethren,  let  me  freely  speak  unto  you  of 
the  patriarch  David,  that  he  is  both  dead  and  buried, 
and  his  sepulchre  is  with  us  unto  this  day.  Therefore 
being  a  prophet,  and  knowing  that  God  had  sworn 


86  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

with  an  oath  to  him,  that  of  the  fruit  of  his  loins,  ac- 
cording to  the  flesh,  he  would  raise  up  Christ  to  sit  on 
his  throne ;  he,  seeing  this  before,  spake  of  the 
resurrection  of  Christ,  that  his  soul  was  not  left  in 
hell,  neither  his  flesh  did  see  corruption.  This  Jesus 
hath  God  raised  up,  whereof  we  all  are  witnesses. 
Therefore  being  by  the  right  hand  of  God  exalted, 
and  having  received  of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  he  hath  shed  forth  this,  which  ye  now 
see  and  hear."  Verses  29-33. 

Then  comes  in  the  passage  first  cited.  "  For  David 
is  not  ascended  into  the  heavens  :  but  he  saith  him- 
self, The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  on  my 
right  hand,  until  I  make  thy  foes  thy  footstool. 
Therefore  let  all  the  house  of  Israel  know  assuredly, 
that  God  hath  made  that  same  Jesus,  whom  ye  have 
crucified,  both  Lord  and  Christ." 

The  argument  of  the  apostle  is,  that  the  prophecy 
could  not  have  related  to  David  personally,  because  it 
was  never  fulfilled  in  him.  He  saw  corruption,  and 
his  sepulchre  was  yet  with  them.  "For  David,  after 
he  had  served  his  own  generation  by  the  will  of  God, 
fell  on  sleep,  and  was  laid  unto  his  fathers,  and  saw 
corruption:  but  he  whom  God  raised  again  saw  no 
corruption  :" — Acts  xiii.  36,  37.  The  prophecy  spoke 
also  of  a  "  path  of  life/'  or  way  to  immortality,  and 
an  ascension  to  the  right  hand  of  God,  neither  of 
which  had  been  fulfilled  in  regard  to  the  body  of 
David.  "For  David  is  not  passed  into  the  heavens." 
lie  is  neither  raised  nor  enthroned;  and  yet  such  is 
the  import  of  the  prophecy.  For  "he  saith  himself, 
The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  on  my  right 
hand,  until  I  make  thy  foes  thy  footstool."  If,  then, 


ALLEGED  SLEEP  OF  SOULS.  87 

such  are  the  prophecies,  which  were  never  fulfilled  in 
David  personally,  it  is  plain  that  he  "spoke  of  the 
resurrection  of  Christ,"  and  not  of  himself.  Nothing, 
therefore,  could  be  more  foreign  to  the  subject  than 
to  understand  the  remark  that  David  had  not  yet  as- 
cended into  heaven,  as  relating  to  his  soul !  It  is 
precisely  like  affirming  that  his  soul  had  not  gone  to 
hades,  or  the  world  of  spirits,  because  his  body  was 
yet  in  the  grave. 

XI.  1  Cor.  xv.  16-18: — "For  if  the  dead  rise  not, 
then  is  not  Christ  raised :  and  if  Christ  be  not  raised, 
your  faith  is  vain ;  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins.     Then 
they    also    which    are    fallen    asleep    in    Christ    are 
perished." 

The  argument  founded  upon  this  passage,  is,  that 
if  Christ  is  not  risen,  and  there  is  no  resurrection, 
there  can  be  no  future  existence.  This  is  true  only 
in  the  sense  intended  by  the  apostle ;  and  that  is,  that 
if  Christ  is  not  risen  from  the  dead,  the  whole  system 
which  he  taught,  including  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  as  well  as  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  falls  to 
the  ground.  This  the  most  firm  believer  in  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul  will  readily  admit.  For  if 
Christ  be  not  risen,  the  whole  Christian  system  is  a 
cunningly  devised  fable ;  the  hopes  it  inspires  are  de- 
lusive; and  so  far  as  we  have  any  evidence  to  the 
contrary  from  any  other  and  surer  word  of  prophecy, 
the  dead  in  Christ  are  perished.  But  even  then,  as 
we  shall  see  hereafter,  the  word  "perished"  implies 
the  loss  of  the  soul  only,  or  its  failure  to  reach 
Paradise,  rather  than  its  having  fallen  into  non- 
existence. 

XII.  2  Tim.  iv.  6-8: — "For  I  am  now  ready  to  be 


88  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I 
have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I 
have  kept  the  faith:  henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for 
me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  clay :  and  not 
to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love  his  ap- 
pearing." 

From  this  passage  it  is  argued  that  St.  Paul  did 
not  expect  his  crown  of  righteousness  till  the  second 
coming  of  Christ  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead ; 
and  that  consequently  he  had  no  reward,  and  indeed 
no  conscious  existence  from  death  to  that  period. 
But  the  conclusion  is  not  warranted  by  the  premises. 
AVe  are  ready  to  admit  that  the  "crown  of  righteous- 
ness " — the  full  and  glorious  reward  of  the  righteous — • 
will  not  be  administered  till  the  resurrection;  but  it 
by  no  means  follows  that  there  is  no  reward,  nor  hap- 
piness, nor  existence,  till  the  resurrected  believer  is 
fully  crowned.  And  the  fact  that  St.  Paul  looked 
forward  with  hope  and  joy  to  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  no  more  proves  that  he  expected  nothing  before 
that  event,  than  the  same  hope  in  a  Christian  now, 
proves  that  he  believes  in  the  death  of  the  soul.  In 
fact  the  firmer  our  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  the  more  ardent  and  joyful  our  hope  of  the  re- 
surrection of  the  body.  So  Avith  St.  Paul:  he  kneAV 
that  to  die  was  gain — to  be  Avith  Christ  Avhieh  is  far 
better — and  yet  he  looked  forward  with  rapturous 
joy,  to  the  day  when  his  salvation  should  be  com- 
pleted in  the  resurrection  of  his  body.  Such  in  fact 
is  the  true  explanation  of  all  those  Scriptures  in 
Avhieh  the  righteous  seem  to  dAvell  upon  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead,  as  an  object  of  hope  and  desire. 


ALLEGED    SLEEP    Or    SOU:  89 

Not  that  they  can  have  no  happiness  or  conscious  ex- 
istence till  the  body  is  raised,  but  because  the  resur- 
rection of  their  bodies  incorruptible  and  glorious  is  the 
last  and  crowning  act  of  their  salvation  from  the  power 
of  sin  and  death.  Is  it  at  all  strange,  therefore,  that 
they  look  forward  to  that  glorious  consummation, 
with  holy  joy  and  triumph  \ 

XII.  That  the  early  Christians  and  martyrs  for 
the  word  of  God  understood  the  Scriptures  as  we  have 
explained  them,  and  looked  for  conscious  joy  in  Para- 
dise immediately  after  death,  might  be  shown  to  almost 
any  extent  from  ecclesiastical  history.  But  this  would 
lead  us  too  far  aside  from  our  purpose  to  confine  our- 
self  in  this  part  of  our  inquiry,  almost  exclusively  to 
the  Sacred  Writings.  A  few  brief  references,  how- 
ever, may  not  be  out  of  place. 

Of  the  thousands  of  Christian  martyrs  who  sealed 
the  truth  with  their  blood  during  the  first  three  cen- 
turies of  the  Christian  era,  not  one  of  them  gave  ex- 
pression in  his  last  moments,  so  far  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained, to  the  idea  that  his  soul  would  die  or  become 
unconscious  when  the  body  was  dissolved.  On  the 
contrary  they  uniformly  express  the  hope  of  imme- 
diate and  conscious  happiness  after  death.  Take  the 
following  as  examples: 

POLYCARP  was  the  companion  of  St.  John,  and 
often  heard  him  preach.  He  suffered  martyrdom, 
A.  D.  166,  in  the  eighty-seventh  year  of  his  age. 
When  the  Proconsul  threatened  him  with  wild  1> 
unless  he  recanted,  he  answered,  "call  them;"  and 
when  the  proconsul  threatened  to  burn  him  alive,  he 
answered,  "You  threaten  fire  that  burns  for  a  moment 
and  is  soon  extinguished,  for  YOU  know  nothing  of 


90  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

the  judgment  to  coine,  and  the  fire  of  eternal  punish- 
ment reserved  for  the  wicked."  In  his  last  prayer  as 
he  stood  bound  to  the  stake,  after  mentioning  the 
blessed  martyrs,  he  said,  "Among  whom  may  I  be 
received  in  thy  sight  this  day,  £c."* 

From  these  passages  it  is  clear  that  Polycarp,  the 
companion  of  St.  John,  not  only  believed  in  "eternal 
punishment,"  but  looked  for  an  immediate  life  with 
Christ  in  Paradise,  when  the  pains  of  martyrdom 
were  over.  For  him  to  die  was  to  be  introduced  at 
once  into  the  presence  of  God,  and  the  society  of  the 
blessed  who  had  gone  before.  And  Euscbius,  who 
wrote  the  account  A.  D.  324,  concludes  the  narrative 
of  his  martyrdom  by  saying,  he  was  "  crowned  with 
the  crown  of  immortality."  Neither  the  martyr  nor 
the  historian,  therefore,  believed  in  the  doctrine  of 
the  death  or  sleep  of  souls. 

Lucius  perished  under  Urbicius  about  the  time  of 
Polycarp.  When  Urbicius  commanded  him  to  be  led 
forth,  Lucius  thanked  him,  saying  he  was  now  "liber- 
ated from  wicked  masters,  and  was  going  to  the  good 
Father  and  King,  even  God."f  To  die  was  to  go  to 
God,  and  not  to  cease  to  exist. 

BIBLIAS,  while  suffering  the  torture  of  martyrdom, 
was  at  the  point  to  renounce  Christ  and  escape,  when 
"she  was  reminded,"  it  is  said,  "by  the  punishment 
before  her,  of  the  ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT  OF  HELL," 
and.  remained  steadfast  to  the  last. I  She  had  no 
idea,  therefore,  that  the  death  of  a  sinner  placed  him 
beyond  the  possibility  of  eternal  punishment. 

Again    in    the   same  book   and   chapter,   Eusebius 

*E<iM''mus'  Keel.  Hist.  bk.  iv.    Chap.  xv. 
i  Ibid.  b.  iv.  fli.  xviii.  *  Ibid.  b.  v.  Ch.  i. 


ALLEGED    SLEEP    OF    M>VI>.  01 

speaks  of  ''those  noble  wrestlers,"  the  martyrs,  as 
having  sustained  a  diversified  contest ;  "  come  off  with 
a  glorious  victory,  and  borne  away  the  crown  of  immor- 
tality. 

BLANDIXA  was  suspended  on  a  stake,  and  exposed 
as  food  for  wild  beasts.  She  persuaded  those  who 
believed  in  Christ  that  "  every  one  who  suffers  for 
Christ,  will  for  ever  enjoy  communion  with  the  living 
God."  And  yet,  if  annihilutionisni  be  true,  she  has 
not  yet  come  to  communion  with  God,  and  may  not' 
for  a  thousand  years  to  come. 

A  little  further  on  the  historian  says,  "  Thus  she 
overcame  the  enemy  in  many  trials,  [the  wild  beasts 
refused  to  attack  her,]  and  in  the  conflict  received  the 
crown  of  IMMORTALITY."  On  the  next  page  it  is 
said,  u  But  the  blessed  Blandina,  last  of  all,  as  a  noble 
mother  that  had  animated  her  children  and  SENT  THEM 
AS  VICTORS  TO  THE  GREAT  KING,  herself  retracing  the 
ground  of  all  the  conflicts  her  children  had  endured, 
HASTENED  at  last,  with  joy  and  exultation  at  the 
.  TO  THEM,  as  if  she  were  invited  to  a  marriage 
feast,  and  not  to  be  cast  to  wild  be; 

Such  was  the  testimony  of  the  first  martyrs — such 
the  doctrine  they  learned  from  the  Apostles,  and 
from  the  Holy  Scriptures.  And  I  hesitate  not  to 
say  that  not  the  first  instance  can  be  cited  in  which, 
.  during  the  first  three  centuries,  a  Christian  expi 
any  other  hope  in  his  last  hours  than  that  of  entering 
AT  OXCE  upon  the  joys  of  an  endless  life. 

XIII.  I  cannot  refrain,  in  this  connection,  from 
adducing  a  few  additional  proofs  of  the  views  and 
hopes  of  the  early  martyrs.  They  are  too  striking 

*  Eiuebius'  Eccl.  Hia.  b.  v.  Ch.  1. 


92  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

and  conclusive  to  be  omitted — monumental  witnesses 
that  stand  unchanged  by  the  lapse  of  ages,  like  the 
records  of  creation,  written  in  the  everlasting  hills. 

The  Catacombs  of  Rome  are  a  subterranean  city  of 
the  dead,  in  which  the  bodies  of  the  martyrs  were 
buried  during  the  first  three  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era.  The  inscriptions  upon  these  tombs  throw  no  little 
light  upon  the  faith  of  the  early  Christians.  Take 
the  following  as  examples  :  "  Borne  away  by  angels 
on  the  seventh  Ides  of  January."  "  In  Christ,  Alex- 
ander is  not  dead,  but  lives  above  the  stars — his  body 
rests  in  this  tomb."  "Among  the  innocent  ones." 
"  One  who  lives  with  God."  "  Gone  to  dwell  with 
Christ."  "Snatched  home  eternally,  etc."  Other 
inscriptions  speak  of  the  day  of  their  departure,  as 
their  "natal"  or  birthday;  and  what  is  still  more 
significant,  the  word  death  is  never  used  in  reference 
to  one  of  all  that  vast  company  of  the  departed  ! 

Such  is  the  testimony  of  these  mute  and  incorrup- 
tible witnesses,  to  the  separate  and  immortal  < 
ence  of  human  souls  when  their  bodies  return  to  dust.* 

The  doctrine  of  the  death  or  sleep  of  the  soul  from 
death  to  the  resurrection,  is  liable  to  numerous  and 
insuperable  objections,  a  few  of  which  may  be  briefly 
stated. 

1.  It  is  contrary  to  that  large  class  of  Scriptures 
cited   in    Chapter  II.,  which  go  to  show  that  matter 
and  spirit  are  distinct  essences. 

2.  It    is    contrary  to  a   still    larger    list    cited    in 
Chapter    III.,   which   represent    man   as   a    two-fold 
being — a  spirit  in  a  body. 

•National  Magazine.   Vol.  v.  pi,.  -27:  or,  Bishop  Kipp's 

Work  upon  the  I'atacomli?. 


ALLEGED    SLEEP   OF    SOULS.  93 

3.  It  is  contrary  to   all  those  Scriptures  cited  in 
Chapter   IV.,  which  go   to  prove   that   death  is  the 
separation  of  soul  and  body,  and  not  the  extinction 
of  thought  or  consciousiu •-• 

4.  It  is  contrary  to  a  still  larger  and  very  explicit 
list  of  texts  cited  in  Chapter  V.,  which  directly  prove 
the  conscious  existence  of  the  soul  after  death. 

5.  It  is  degrading  to  our  species,  in  that  it  reduces 
man  to  a  level  with  the  brute ;  and  so  far  as  the  effect 
of  death  upon  him  is  concerned,  gives  him  no  pre- 
eminence over  the  beast.* 

6.  It  represents  the  eternal  world  as  an  empty 
void,  so  far  as  human  spirits  are  concerned — as  upon 
this   theory  there  are   no  human  souls  in  heaven  till 
the  general  resurrection  ;  whereas,  the  Scriptures  rep- 
resent heaven  as  already  peopled  with  a  vast  and  joy- 
ful company  which  no  man  can  number.     See  Rev. 
vii.  9-14. 

7.  It  makes  no  distinction  between  the  righteous 
and  the  wicked  for  long  ages  after  death.     Cain,  and 
Abel,  and  Jeremiah,  and  Jezebel,  and  Judas,  and  St. 
John,  and  Payson,  and  Thomas  Paine ;  and  indeed, 
all  sinners  and  saints,  share  precisely  the  same  fate 
from  death  to  the  resurrection.     It  is  to  all  alike  a 
dreary  unbroken  parenthesis   of  being — a  dark  and 
yawning  chasm  in  existence  itself!     In  the  case  of 
the  patriarchs  and  prophets  a  life  of  communion  with 
God  is  followed  by  a  worse  than  banishment  of  centu- 
ries ;  and  the  glory  and  bliss  of  heaven  is  preceded  by 
ages  of  darkness  and  non-existence  !     Is  this  all  that 

*  An  infidel,  who  had  been  attempting  to  prove  that  men  have  no 
souls,  asked  a  lady  with  an  air  of  triumph  what  she  thought  of  his 
philosophy.  "  It  appears  to  me,"  she  replied,  "  that  you  have  been 
employing  a  good  deal  of  talent  to  prove  yourself  a  beast." 


94  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

God  has  promised  to  his  saints  ?  Is  this  the  best  that 
he  can  do  for  his  followers  when  the  present  life  shall 
end  ?  Is  this  "  the  hope  of  glory"  which  swelled  the 
bosoms  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  and  emboldened 
the  martyrs  to  meet  death  even  with  joy  and  triumph  ? 
Ah  no  !  It  is  "  another  gospel !"  The  martyrs  died 
with  a  different  hope.  With  them  it  was  death  and 
immediate  glory. 

And  so  with  modern  Christian  believers.  Among 
the  millions  who  have  made  the  Bible  their  study 
during  the  last  fifteen  hundred  years,  how  very  few 
have  understood  it  to  teach  any  other  doctrine.  Not 
one  in  ten  thousand.  And  yet  they  were  not  Infidels 
nor  Papists,  but  devout  Protestant  Christians.  They 
read  the  blessed  Bible  to  learn  the  way  to  heaven,  and 
they  understood  it  to  teach  that  death  only  separated 
the  inner  from  the  outer  man,  and  introduced  the 
souls  of  the  righteous  to  eternal  joys.  In  this  faith 
they  lived,  and  in  this  hope  they  died. 

But  were  the  primitive  saints  and  martyrs  all  in 
error  ?  Have  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  out  of 
every  thousand  of  Christians  who  have  ever  lived,  lived 
in  error  upon  this  vital  point,  and  died  with  a  false 
hope  ?  Believe  it,  who  can  !  Nay,  rather ;  their's 
was  the  true  gospel  of  the  life  to  come,  their's  the 
well-grounded  hope  of  immortality. 


THE    INTERMEDIATE    ,-TATK. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  "INTERMEDIATE  STATE;"  OR  THE  PLACE  OF  SOULS 
BETWEEN  DEATH  AND  THE  RESURRECTION. 

IN  the  last  three  chapters  we  have  shown,  that 
death  is  but  the  separation  of  the  soul  from  the  body ; 
and  that  the  soul  neither  sleeps  nor  becomes  uncon- 
scious between  death  and  the  resurrection.  We  have 
also  shown  incidentally  that  the  souls  of  the  righteous 
will  be  happy,  and  those  of  the  wicked  miserable  im- 
mediately after  death,  and  during  this  intermediate 
period.  But  an  interesting  question  arises  just 
here:  Where  are  the  souls  of  men  during  this  inter- 
mediate period  from  death  to  the  resurrection  ?  Are 
they  in  the  final  heaven  and  hell  that  shall  be 
after  the  resurrection  and  general  judgment,  or 
in  intermediate  abodes  differing  from  their  final  allot- 
ment ? 

That  the  state  of  souls  disembodied  is,  in  some  re- 
spects, different  from  that  of  souls  embodied,  is 
obvious;  so  that  few  will  deny  an  intermediate  state, 
who  believe  in  a  resurrection  of  the  body.  But  the 
question  here  proposed  relates,  not  to  the  state  merely, 
but  to  the  place  of  souls  between  the  death  of  the 
body  and  its  final  resurrection. 

Upon  this  question  little  has  been  said  in  modern 


9ti  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

times,  even  by  writers  upon  a  future  life.*  For  this 
there  may  have  been  two  reasons — a  foregone  im- 
pression that  the  Scriptures  shed  but  little  light  upon 
the  subject ;  and  a  vague  apprehension  that  in  some 
way  the  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  place  of  souls, 
favors  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory,  and  of  final  and 
universal  restoration.  But  this  by  no  means  follows. 
The  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  place  of  souls  may  be 
true,  and  the  idea  of  purification  there  and  of  final 
restoration  a  fiction. 

That  the  place  of  souls  between  death  and  the 
resurrection  is  different  from  their  final  abode,  was 
generally  believed  by  the  primitive  church.  It  is  a 
doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  of  the  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  church  in  this  country,  and  was 
certainly  believed  by  JOHN  WESLEY  and  DR.  ADAM 
CLARKE,  two  of  the  great  lights  of  Methodism.  It 
was  also  advocated  by  SCOTT,  and  MAGEE,  and 
CAMPBELL,  among  the  Presbyterians ;  as  well  as  by 
scores  of  learned  and  pious  men  who  were  never  sus- 
pected either  of  Popery  or  Universalism.  We  have, 
therefore,  no  reason  to  reject  this  doctrine,  or  to  dis- 
cuss it  with  prejudice,  or  fear,  from  any  apprehension 
that  its  tendency  is  to  favor  the  errors  above  alluded 
to. 

That  there  is  an  intermediate  place  as  well  as  a 
state  of  souls  between  death  and  the  resurrection, 
seems  highly  probable  from  the  following  considera- 
tions : — 

I.  There  must  of  necessity  be  a  great  differ- 
ence between  the  intermediate  state  of  souls,  and 

*  The  best  treatise  we  have  seen  is  that  on  "  The  State  of  the  De- 
parted," by  Bishop  Hoburt. 


THE    INTERMEDIATE    STATE.  97 

their  final  condition  after  the  resurrection  of  their 
1  tallies. 

Man  is  a  compound  being  consisting  of  body  and 
soul.  Death  is  a  separation  of  these  two  natures. 
The  soul  of  the  good  man  goes  to  "Paradise,"  and 
the  body  goes  back  to  corruption. 

Now  it  must  be  obvious  that  just  so  far  as  the  want 
of  an  immortal  and  glorified  body  is  an  imperfection 
in  man,  (not  moral,  perhaps,  but  physical,)  he  is  in  an 
imperfect  state  till  his  body  is  raised  from  the  dead. 
And  if  no  imperfection  can  enter  the  final  abode  of 
the  righteous,  man  is  not  prepared  to  enter  his  final 
dwelling-place,  till  after  the  general  resurrection. 
And  if  so  there  is  an  analogical  necessity  for  an  in- 
termediate place  of  souls  between  death  and  the  re- 
surrection, answering  somewhat  to  the  peculiar  state 
of  disembodied  spirits. 

Again:  It  should  be  remembered,  not  only  that 
man's  normal  condition  is  soul  and  body  in  union, 
while  a  state  of  separation  and  dissolution  is  an  ab- 
normal state; — a  sort  of  parenthesis  in  his  being; — 
but  that  this  abnormal  condition  is  a  result  of  sin; 
and  one  of  the  victories  achieved  by  it,  from  which 
even  the  righteous  are  not  yet  delivered.  No  man  is 
or  can  be  fully  "saved,"  therefore,  while  his  body  is 
yet  in  the  grave,  under  the  dominion  of  death.  "When 
that  is  raised  in  incorruption,  and  power,  and  glory : 
aud  re-inhabited  by  the  soul  which  was  dislodged  from 
it  at  death,  then,  and  not  till  then,  will  any  be 
••saved"  in  the  highest  aud  fullest  sense;  and  death 
vallowed  up  of  victory.  Why,  then,  should  souls 
go  up  beforehand  to  the  heavenly  mansions,  to  which 
they  are  admitted  when  made  perfect  and  complete 


l>8  THE    IMMORTALITY    OK   THE    SOU,. 

by  the  general  resurrection  ?  Is  not  an  intermediate 
place  of  souls  more  in  harmony  with  this  imperfect 
and  abnormal  state,  than  the  highest  exaltation  in  the 
heavenly  world? 

II.  There  are  intimations  in  the  Scriptures  of  an 
established  order,  on  the  part  of  God  to  introduce  all 
his  saints  to  their  final  and  glorious  reward  at  one  and 
the  same  time.  Mark,  we  say  the  "final"  reward. 
Take  the  following  passages  as  samples. 

1.  1  Thess.  iv.  15-17:— "For  this  we  say  unto  you  by 
the  word  of  the  Lord,  that  we  which  are  alive  and  re- 
main unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord  shall  not  prevent 
them  which  are  asleep.  For  the  Lord  himself  shall 
descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of 
the  archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of  God:  and  the 
dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first:  then  we  which  are 
alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up  together  with 
them  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air:  and 
so  shall  we  ever  be  with  the  Lord." 

In  the  15th  verse  the  word  "prevent"  is  used  in 
its  old  English  sense  of  to  go  before  or  anticipate. 
The  living  Christian,  who  hears  the  sound  of  the  re- 
surrection trumpet,  and  is  changed  from  mortal  to 
immortality  in  a  moment,  shall  not  go  before  or  out- 
strip his  brother  Christian,  whose  body  has  been  dis- 
solved by  death,  and  whose  inanimate  dust  sleeps  in 
the  grave.  "The  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first." 
Not,  as  some  understand  it,  before  the  wicked  rise, 
but  before  the  righteous  who  "are  alive  ;md  remain," 
ascend.  "  Then" — after  the  righteous  dead  have 
arisen — both  shall  be  caught  up  together,  to  meet  the 
Lord  in  the  air,  and  to  be  forever  with  the  Lord. 
This  established  order,  therefore,  seems  to  imply  that 


THE    INTERMEDIATE    STATE.  <l<» 

the  righteous  do  not  enter  the  final  heaven  at  death, 
that  there  must  be  an  intermediate  abode,  where  their 
souls  are  in  joy  and  felicity. 

2.  Heb.  xi.  39,  40,  speaking  of  the  Old  Testament 
saints,  the  apostle  says: — "And  these  all,  having 
obtained  a  good  report  through  faith,  received  not  the 
promise:  God  having  provided  some  better  thing  for 
us,  that  they  ivithout  us  should  not  be  made  perfect." 

This  last  clause  is  generally  understood  to  teach 
that  the  saints  of  former  ages  are  not  "made  perfect," 
that  is,  do  not  enter  upon  their  eternal  reward,  till 
those  of  the  later  dispensation  enter  also  upon  their 
final  glory.  MR.  AYESLEY  in  his  notes  says,  '•'•that 
tltcy  might  not  be  perfected  ivithout  us.  That  is,  that 
we  might  all  be  perfected  together  in  heaven."  DR. 
CLARKE  says, — "  The  preceding  believers  cannot  be 
consummated  even  in  glory,  till  the  gospel  church 
arrives  in  the  heaven  of  heavens." 

Upon  this  passage  DR.  MACKNIGHT  observes: 
"Made  perfect,"  here  signifies  made  complete,  by  re- 
ceiving the  whole  of  the  blessings  promised  to  be- 
lievers, the  expectation  of  which  animated  the  ancients, 
whose  great  actions  are  celebrated  in  the  preceding 
part  of  the  chapter.  These  blessings  are  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body,  the  everlasting  possession  of  the 
heavenly  country,  and  the  full  enjoyment  of  God  as 
their  exceeding  great  reward.  The  apostle's  doctrine 
that  believers  are  all  to  be  rewarded  together,  and  at 
the  same  time,  is  agreeable  to  Christ's  declaration, 
who  told  his  disciples  that  they  were  not  to  come  to 
the  place  he  was  going  away  to  prepare  for  them,  till 
he  returned  from  heaven  to  carry  them  to  it.  *  * 
This  determination,  not  to  reward  the  ancients  with- 


100  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

out  us,  is  highly  proper;  because  the  power  and 
veracity  of  God  will  be  more  illustriously  displayed 
in  the  view  of  angels  and  men,  by  raising  the  whole 
of  Abraham's  seed  from  the  dead  at  once,  and  by  in- 
troducing them  into  the  heavenly  country  in  a  body, 
after  a  public  acquittal  at  the  day  of  judgment,  than 
if  each  were  made  perfect  separately  at  their  death.* 

Now  if  such  be  the  order  of  God  in  reference  to  his 
people,  how  say  some  among  us  that  Abel,  and  Noah, 
and  Job,  and  the  prophets  ascended  at  once  to  their 
final  heaven  the  moment  they  dropped  their  earthly 
tabernacles?  If  the  saints  who  are  alive  at  Christ's 
second  coming  cannot  ascend  till  the  saints  who  "sleep 
in  the  dust  of  the  earth"  are  raised,  to  go  with  them; 
and  if  none  of  God's  people  of  former  ages  are  made 
perfect  without  or  before  the  saints  of  the  last  days, 
is  not  their  present  state  an  imperfect  one,  so  far  as 
their  fulness  of  joy  is  concerned?  And  does  not  that 
imperfection  of  state,  imply  a  corresponding  imperfec- 
tion of  place,  or  an  intermediate  Paradise,  other  than 
our  final  home  after  the  resurrection? 

III.  The  same  general  idea  is  more  directly  con- 
veyed in  a  numerous  class  of  Scriptures,  which  teach 
that  men  are  not  to  be  fully  rewarded  or  punished  till 
Christ's  second  coming  and  the  resurrection. 

Matt.  xiii.  39-43: — "The  harvest  is  the  end  of  the 
world.  *  *  *  *  The  Son  of  man  shall  send  forth  his 
angels,  and  they  shall  gather  out  of  his  kingdom  all 
things  that  offend,  and  them  which  do  iniquity;  and 
shall  cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire :  there  shall  be' 
wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Then  shall  the  right- 

*  See  Commentary  nml  Notes. 


THE    IXTKUMKDIATI-:    STATE.  '       101 

eous   shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their 
Father." 

2  Tln'ss.  i.  7-10: — "And  to  you,  who  are  troubled, 
rest  with  us,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed 
from  heaven  with  his  mighty  angels,  in  flaming  fire 
taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God,  and 
that  obey  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ: 
who  shall  be  punished  with  everlasting  destruction 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of 
his  power;  when  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  his 
saints,  and  to  be  admired  in  all  them  that  believe 
(because  our  testimony  among  you  was  believed)  in 
that  day." 

2  Pet.  iii.  7: — "But  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
which  are  now,  by  the  same  word  are  kept  in  store, 
reserved  unto  fire  against  the  day  of  judgment  and 
perdition  of  ungodly  men."  These  passages  relate  to 
the  wicked,  and  clearly  teach  that  they  are  not  to  be 
"cast  into  a  furnace  of  fire;"  to  "be  punished  with 
everlasting  destruction,"  and  to  experience  their 
complete  "perdition,"  till  the  second  corning  of  Christ 
and  the  resurrection.  Take  also  another  still  more 
extended  class  that  speak  only  of  the  righteous : — 

Luke  xiv.  13,  14: — "But  when  thou  makest  a 
feast,  call  the  poor,  the  maimed,  the  lame,  the  blind ; 
and  thou  shalt  be.blessed:  for  they  cannot  recompense 
thee :  for  thou  shalt  be  recompensed  at  the  resurrection 
of  the  just. 

1  Pet.  i.  5,  7, 13: — "Who  are  kept  by  the  power  of 
God  through  faith  unto  salvation,  ready  to  be  revealed 
in  the  last  time.  That  the  trial  of  your  faith,  being 
much  more  precious  than  of  gold  that  perisheth, 
though  it  be  tried  with  fire,  might  be  found  unto 


102  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    Son,. 

praise,  and  honor,  and  glory,  at  the  appearing  of 
Jesus  Christ:  wherefore  gird  up  the  loins  of  your 
mind,  be  sober,  and  hope  to  the  end  for  the  grace  that 
is  to  be  brought  unto  you  at  the  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ." 

1  Pet.  iv.  13: — "But  rejoice,  inasmuch  as  ye  are 
partakers  of  Christ's  sufferings;  that,  when  his  glory 
shall  be  revealed,  ye  may  be  glad  also  with  exceeding 

joy."  . 

1  Pet.  v.  4: — "And  when  the  chief  Shepherd  shall 
appear,  ye  shall  receive  a  crown  of  glory  that  fadeth 
not  away." 

2  Tim.  iv.  8: — "Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me 
a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  right- 
eous Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day:   and  not  to 
me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love  his  appear- 
ing."    ' 

1  John  iii.  2  : — "  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of 
God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be : 
but  we  know  that  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be 
like  him ;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is." 

John  xiv.  2,  3  : — "  In  my  Father's  house  are  many 
mansions :  if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you. 
I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and 
prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will  come  again  and  receive 
you  unto  myself;  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be 
also." 

In  this  last  passage  the  reception  of  the  righteous 
to  the  heavenly  mansions  prepared  for  them  is  repre- 
sented as  to  occur  when  Christ  comes  again,  and  not 
at  the  hour  of  death.  And  so  in  the  other  passages 
cited — they  all  clearly  teach  that  the  righteous  are 
not  to  "shine  forth  as  the  sun"  in  the  kingdom  of 


THE    INTERMEDIATE    STATE.  103 

God ;  to  be  "  recompensed  :"  to  ••  be  glad  with  exceed- 
ing joy?"  to  receive  their  "crowns  of  glory,  etc.," 
till  Christ  descends  again  from  heaven,  raises  the 
dead,  and  distributes  to  all  men  their  eternal  rewards. 
How,  then,  can  it  be  true  that  the  heaven  to  which 
the  spirits  of  the  righteous  ascend,  and  where  they 
now  are,  is  the  very  heaven  to  which  they  shall  re- 
turn after  the  general  resurrection  and  final  judgment  ? 

IV.  Still  more  strikingly,  if  possible,  is  the  doc- 
trine of  an  intermediate  place  of  souls  implied  in 
every  description  of  the  final  judgment.  Matt.  xxv. 
31,  and  onward  is  one  of  the  most  unequivocal  and 
imposing  of  these  descriptions.  The  Son  of  God 
descends  from  heaven,  with  his  holy  angels  ;  all  na- 
tions are  summoned  before  him.  He  then  proceeds 
to  separate  the  righteous  from  the  wicked,  as  a  shep- 
herd divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats.  To  the  righte- 
ous he  says,  "  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit 
the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world;"  and  to  the  wicked,  "Depart  from  me, 
ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the 
devil  and  his  angels."  "  And  these  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment  ;  but  the  righteous  into  life 
eternal."  Whatever  that  fulness  of  joy  or  misery 
may  be  to  which  men  are  thus  finally  adjudged,  unless 
the  Scriptures  are  utterly  misleading,  it  is  plain  that 
the  righteous  do  not  "inherit  the  kingdom"  of  their 
complete  and  eternal  glory  till  after  the  resurrection 
and  final  judgment.  Neither  do  the  wicked  depart  to 
their  final  and  everlasting  doom  before  that  time. 

The  same  doctrine  is  taught  in  the  parable  of  the 
talents,  Matt.  xxiv.  14-30  : — It  is  not  till  "  the  Lord 
of  those  servants  cometh,"  that  he  saith  to  the  "good 


104  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    T11K    BOUL. 

and  faithful,"  "Enter  thou  into  tho  joy  of  thy  Lord  :" 
or  of  the  wicked,  "  Cast  ye  the  unprofitable  servant 
into  outer  darkness."  So  in  the  parable  of  the  wise 
and  foolish  virgin,  in  the  same  chapter — it  is  not  till 
"the  bridegroom  cometh,"  that  the  wise  "go  in  unto 
the  marriage,"  and  the  door  is  shut  against  the 
foolish. 

Upon  the  hypothesis  of  no  intermediate  place  of 
souls,  and  their  introduction  to  the  final  heaven  or 
hell,  immediately  after  death,  both  have  entered  on 
their  respective  rewards,  in  their  eternal  abodes,  be- 
fore they  are  judged,  and  without  their  immortal 
bodies.  They  are  then  each  to  be  called  subsequently, 
from  their  respective  abodes,  judged  and  sent  back 
to  the  very  places  from  whence  they  came  !  Does  not 
such  a  theory  destroy  much  of  the  consistency  (we 
speak  with  reverence)  much  of  the  reasonableness  of 
and  sublimity  of  the  grand  and  solemn  procedure  ? 
If  men  are  to  be  publicly  judged  and  rewarded  or 
punished,  at  the  resurrection,  why  should  they  be  re- 
warded or  punished  in  the  same  manner,  and  the 
same  place,  before  the  resurrection  and  final  judg- 
ment ?  And  what  can  be  the  force  of  the  sentence, 
"  Come,  ye  blessed,  inherit  the  kingdom  ;"  "  Depart,  ye 
cursed  into  everlasting  fire;  "if  the.  former  has  been 
inheriting  the  "kingdom,"  and  the  latter  enduring 
the  "fire"  for  long  ages  before? 

We  know  it  has  been  replied  that  there  will  be 
other  degrees  of  joy  or  sorrow  after  the  resurrection 
and  final  judgment,  sufficient  to  warrant  the  language 
of  the  preceding  descriptions.  But  it  is  not  so  much 
of  new  degrees  of  joy  or  sorrow  that  shall  follow  the 
day  of  judgment,  of  which  the  Scriptures  seem  to 


THE    INTERMEDIATE    STATE.  105 

speak,  as  of  new  abodes  both  for  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked.  Then  the  righteous  are  to  come  to  their 
heavenly  Zion,  with  songs,  and  everlasting  joy  upon 
their  heads  ;  and  then  the  wicked  are  to  "go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment."  Surely,  then,  they  have 
not  entered  upon  either  already  ;  but  the  souls  of  each 
are  in  Hades — the  place  of  souls,  happy  or  miserable 
a  =5  their  works  have  been,  but  awaiting  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  man  ;  the  resurrection  of  their  bodies ;  the 
final  judgment;  and  the  final  heaven  or  hell  that  are 
to  follow. 

The  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  state  is,  therefore, 
the  only  doctrine  that  can  be  reconciled  with  the 
Scripture  doctrine  of  a  general  judgment ;  and  by 
losing  sight  of  it  many  have  been  perplexed  with  those 
Scriptures  which  connect  rewards  and  punishments 
with  the  resurrection.  And  some  have  thus  been  led 
even  to  countenance  the  doctrine  of  the  sleep  or  ex- 
tinction of  the  soul,  during  the  death  of  the  body,  to 
the  support  of  which  these  Scriptures  are  perverted. 

V.  We  have  several  descriptions  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  in 
all  of  which  it  is  implied  that  souls  do  not  return  after 
the  resurrection  and  general  judgment,  to  the  places 
from  which  they  come  forth  to  be  judged.  We  cite  a 
few  specimens. 

Hosea  xiii.  14,  is  one  of  these  descriptions.  '•  I 
will  ransom  them  from  the  power  of  the  grave ;  I  will 
redeem  them  from  death:  0  death,  I  will  be  thy 
plagues;  0  grave,  I  will  be  thy  destruction:  repent- 
ance shall  be  hid  from  mine  eyes.''  That  this  pas- 
sage is  a  prophecy  of  the  resurrection  is  certain  from 
the  use  made  of  it  by  St.  Paul,  1  Cor.  xv.  54,  55. 


10*>  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

We  have  first  the  announcement,  "  I  will  ran- 
som them  from  the  power  of  the  grave,  I  will  re- 
deem them  from  death  ;"  and  then  the  triumphant 
double  apostrophe  to  death  and  the  grave,  "  0 
death,  I  will  be  thy  plagues  ;  0  grave,  I  will  be 
thy  destruction  :  repentance  shall  be  hid  from  mine 
eyes." 

Fully  to  appreciate  this  sublime  prophecy,  we  must 
remember  what  man  is;  what  death  does  to  him; 
and  what  the  resurrection  is  to  effect.  As  man,  he 
consists  of  a  material  and  mortal  body,  and  an  imma- 
terial and  immortal  spirit.  Death  separates  the  soul 
from  the  body,  consigning  the  latter  to  the  dust,  and 
the  former  to  hades — the  abode  of  departed  souls. 
In  the  resurrection  the  body  is  raised  from  death  to 
life  and  immortality,  and  the  soul  leaves  its  interme- 
diate abode,  to  re-enter  its  deathless  body,  and  to 
dwell  in  it  forever. 

Answering  to  all  this  a  triumphant  apostrophe  is 
addressed,  in  the  above  passage,  as  well  to  the  place 
of  souls,  as  to  the  grave.  "0  death,  [Hebrew  maveth 
— the  principle  of  corruption,  the  grave,]  I  will  be  thy 
plagues.  0  grave,  [Hebrew  sheol — the  place  of  the 
dead,]  I  will  be  thy  destruction."  "Sheol,"  says 
Clarke,  "shall  be  destroyed,  for  it  must  deliver  up 
its  dead," — the  souls  of  men.  "Maveth  shall  be 
annihilated,  for  the  body  shall  be  raised  incorrupti- 
ble" 

The  import,  then,  of  this  prophetic  description  is 
not  that  sheol  or  the  present  abode/ of  souls  shall  con- 
tinue after  the  resurrection,  any  more  than  maveth, 
the  present  abode  of  dead  bodies  shall  continue. 
Both  are  alike  to  pass  away,  to  be  succeeded  by  the 


THE    INTEUMKTtlATE    STATE.  107 

everlasting  habitations  to  which  men  will  be  assigned 
after  the  general  resurrection. 

In  the  xvth  chapter  of  first  Corinthians,  St.  Paul 
cites  this  same  passage,  with  slight  modification. 
His  subject  is  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  He  has 
just  constructed  one  of  the  most  sublime  arguments 
ever  put  forth  upon  any  subject,  and  thus  crowns  the 
glorious  structure : — 

"  For  this  corruptible  must  put  on  incorruption,  and 
this  mortal  must  put  on  immortality.  So  when  this 
corruptible  shall  have  put  on  incorruption,  and  this 
mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality,  then  shall  be 
brought  to  pass  the  saying  that  is  written,  Death  is 
swallowed  up  in  victory.  0  death,  where  is  thy 
sting?  0  grave,  where  is  thy  victory?  The  sting 
of  death  is  sin ;  and  the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law. 
But  thanks  be  to  God,  which  giveth  us  the  victory 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Here  the  believer's  victory  is  consummated  in  the 
resurrection,  "through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ:"  and 
in  that  glorious  consummation  "the  saying  that  is 
written"  by  the  prophet  "shall  be  brought  to  pass." 

But  observe  that  here  also  the  present  abode  of 
souls  and  the  grave  are  each  separately  addressed, 
and  both  are  to  be  alike  abolished  in  the  resurrection. 
"0  death,  [Gr.  thanate^]  where  is  thy  sting?"  Thy 
power  to  harm  is  gone — thy  prey  set  free!  "0 
grave,  [Gr.  hades — the  place  of  souls,]  where  is  thy 
victory?"  "Hades,"  says  CLARKE,  "which  we  trans- 
late grave,  is  generally  understood  to  be  the  place  of 
separate  spirits."  "0  hades,"  says  MR.  WESLEY, 
"the  receptacle  of  separate  souls — where  is  thy  vic- 
tory? Hades  literally  relates  to  the  invisible  world, 


108  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

and  relates  to  souls;  death  to  the  body."  And  so 
DR.  BARNES,  "0  hades — the  place  of  the  dead." 
And  mark,  that  hades  no  more  retains  the  souls  of 
men  after  the  resurrection,  than  the  grave  does  their 
bodies.  They  come  each  from  their  respective  tem- 
porary abodes,  and  re-unite.  Hades  and  the  grave 
are  thus  superseded  and  abolished,  and  immortal 
man  then  enters  upon  his  eternal  dwelling-place. 

Finally,  in  the  twentieth  chapter  of  Revelation, 
we  have  still  another  prophecy  and  a  more  sublime 
and  minute  description  of  the  general  resurrection  : 

"  And  I  saw  a  great  white  throne,  and  him  that 
sat  on  it,  from  whose  face  the  earth  and  the  heaven 
fled  away  ;  and  there  was  found  no  place  for  them. 
And  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before 
God  ;  and  the  books  were  opened :  and  another  book 
was  opened,  which  is  the  book  of  life :  and  the  dead 
were  judged  out  of  those  things  which  were  written  in 
the  books,  according  to  their  works.  And  the  sea 
gave  up  the  dead  which  were  in  it ;  and  death  and  hell 
delivered  up  the  dead  which  were  in  them  :  and  they 
were  judged  every  man  according  to  their  works. 
And  death  and  hell  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 
This  is  the  second  death." 

Here,  in  the  thirteenth  verse,  as  in  the  prophecy  of 
Hosea,  and  the  quotation  of  St.  Paul,  there  is  a  two- 
fold yielding  up  in  the  resurrection  ;  the  one  relating 
to  souls  and  the  other  to  bodies.  Both  death,  (the 
grave,)  and  Hades,  the  place  of  souls,  delivered  up 
thi-ir  dead,  the  one  the  souls,  and  the  other  the  bodir-. 
"  Hades,  the  place  of  separate  spirits,"  says  CLARKE. 
"  The  sea  and  death  have  the  bodies  of  all  human 
beings;  Hades  their  spirits."  "Death  gave  up  all 


THE    I.NTKK.MllbiATK    STATE.  109 

the  bodies  of  men,"  says  MR.  WESLEY,  "and  Hades, 
the  receptacle  of  separate  souls,  gave  them  up  to  be 
re-united  to  their  bod' 

Then  death  or  the  grave  and  Hades  are  both 
abolished.  ''And  death  and  hell  were  cast  into  the 
lake  of  fire;"  that  is,  says  Mr.  "\Ve>ley.  "were  abol- 
ished for  ever.  For  neither  the  righteous  nor  the 
wicked  were  to  die  any  more  :  their  souls  and  bodies 
were  no  more  to  be  separated.  Consequently,  neither 
death  nor  hades  could  any  more  have  a  being." 
Thus  eacH  of  these  inspired  descriptions  of  the  resur- 
rection, strongly  implies,  to  say  the  least,  that  in  that 
future  consummation  the  souls  of  men  will  come  from 
a  place  to  which  they  will  not  return,  but  which  will 
be  superseded  by  other  and  different  abodes,  which 
shall  be  unalterable  and  eternal.  Their  present 
abodes  must  therefore  be  only  intermediate  and  tem- 
porary, and  not  the  final  heaven  or  hell  that  shall  be, 
beyond  the  day  of  judgment. 

VI.  The  same  doctrine  seems  also  to  be  taught  by 
our  Saviour  in  the  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  Laza- 
rus, Luke  xvi.  19.  To  understand  this  parable  fully 
it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Jews,  to  whom  our 
Lord  was  speaking,  or  at  least,  the  chief  sect  of  that 
people,  held  to  the  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  state. 
This  is  evident  from  Josephus'  discourse  to  the  Greeks 
upon  that  very  subject.  Josephus  was  a  learned 
Jewish  historian,  who  wrote  about  A.  D.  80.  In  his 
discourse  to  the  Greeks  concerning  Hades,  he  says  : — 

"  Now,  as  to  Hades,  wherein  the  souls  of  the  righteous 
and  unrighteous  are  detained,  it  is  necessary  to  speak  of 
it.  *  *  This  region  is  allotted  as  a  place  of  custody  for 
souls,  in  which  angels  are  appointed  ns  guardians  ro 


110  THK     IMMORTALITY    <>F    THE    SOI  L. 

them,  who  distribute  to  them  temporary  punishments, 
agreeable  to  every  one's  behavior  and  manners. 

"  In  this  region  there  is  a  certain  place  set  apart, 
as  a  lake  of  unquenchable  fire,  whereinto  we  suppose 
no  one  hath  hitherto  been  cast,  but  it  is  prepared  for 
a  day  afore  determined  by  God,  in  which  one  righte- 
ous sentence  shall  deservedly  be  passed  upon  all  men  ; 
when  the  unjust,  and  those  that  have  been  disobedient 
to  God,  and  have  given  honor  to  such  idols  as  have 
been  the  vain  operations  of  the  hands  of  men,  as  to 
God  himself,  shall  be  adjudged  to  this  everlasting 
punishment,  as  having  been  the  cause  of  defilement ; 
while  the  just  shall  obtain  an  incorruptible  and  never- 
fading  kingdom.  These  are  now,  indeed,  confined  in 
hades,  but  not  in  the  same  place  wherein  the  unjust 
are  confined." 

This  passage  clearly  sets  forth  the  Jewish  idea  of 
the  nature  of  hades,  as  a  receptacle  of  souls,  both 
good  and  bad;  and  we  cite  it  solely  for  this  purpose, 
and  not  to  settle  anything  directly  as  to  the  exist- 
ence or  non-existence  of  an  intermediate  state. 

Still  further  on  he  gives  the  current  belief  that  in 
the  resurrection  the  souls  in  hades  will  be  united  with 
their  former  bodies  made  immortal. 

"This  is  the  discourse  concerning  hades,  wherein 
the  souls  of  all  men  are  confined  until  a  proper  season 
which  God  hath  determined,  when  he  will  make  a  re- 
surrection of  all  men  from  the  dead.  *  *  *  *  And 
to  every  body  shall  its  own  soul  be  restored." 

He  then  proceeds  to  give  an  account  of  the  general 
judgment,  which  he  describes  as  following  the  resur- 
rection, arid  the  re-union  of  the  souls  of  men  with 
their  bodies;  and  to  be  followed  by  everlasting  hap- 


THE    INTERMEDIATE    STATK.  Ill 

piness  to  the  righteous,  and  eternal  misery  to  the 
wicked.  It  is  certain,  therefore,  from  this  discourse, 
as  well  MS  from  other  testimony  that  in  connection 
with  the  doctrines  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  and  a  day  of  judgment,  the 
Jews  generally  held  to  that  of  an  intermediate  state, 
or  abode  of  spirits,  between  death  ;md  the  resurrec- 
tion.  This  place  they  called  sheol  in  Hebrew,  and 
hades  in  Greek ;  and  described  it  as  the  common  re- 
ceptacle of  both  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  having 
separate  apartments  for  each,  viz.,  Abraham's  bosom 
for  the  righteous,  and  Tartarus  or  Gehenna  for  the 
Avicked. 

P^^ow  such  being  the  current  theology  upon  the  sub- 
ject among  the  Jews — the  Pharisees  at  least — how 
must  they  have  understood  the  parable  of  the  rich 
man  and  Lazarus  ?  Who  can  read  it  now,  in  the 
light  of  the  known  belief  of  those  to  whom  it  was  ad- 
dressed, and  not  perceive  that  it  is  built  upon  their 
acknowledged  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  state;  and 
is  a.  virtual  endorsement  of  it?  Take  for  instance  the 
part  of  the  parable  from  the  22d  to  the  26th  versrs 
inclusive. 

"  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  beggar  died,  and 
was  carried  by  the  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom :  the 
rich  man  also  died,  and  was  buried;  and  in  hell  he 
lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  torments,  and  seeth  Abra- 
ham afar  off,  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom.  And  he 
cried  and  said,  Father  Abraham,  have  mercy  on  me, 
and  send  Lazarus,  that  he  may  dip  the  tip  of  his 
finger  in  water,  and  cool  my  tongue;  for  I  am  tor- 
mented in  this  flame.  But  Abraham  said,  Son,  re- 
member that  thou  in  thy  lifetime  receivedst  thy  good 


THK    I.M.MOUTALITY    UF    T11K    SOUL. 

things,  and  likewise  Lazarus  evil  things:  but  now  he 
is  comforted,  and  thou  art  tormented.  And  beside  all 
this,  between  us  and  you  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed: 
so  that  they  which  would  pass  from  hence  to  you 
cannot ;  neither  can  they  pass  to  us,  that  would  coma 
from  thence." 

After  describing  the  abode  of  the  righteous  in 
hades,  Josephus  says,  "This  place  we  call  the  bosom 
of  Abraham."  So  in  the  parable,  and  according  to 
the  Jewish  belief  as  described  by  Josephus,  as  soon  as 
Lazarus  dies  he  is  taken  in  charge  by  good  angels,  and 
conveyed  to  Abraham's  bosom. 

"The  Jews  from  whom  the  phrase  is  borrowed, 
spoke  of  all  true  believers  as  going  to  Abraham,  as 
being  in  his  bosom.  To  be  in  Abraham's  bosom  was 
equivalent  with  them  to  the  being  'in  the  garden  of 
Eden,'  or  'under  the  throne  of  glory,'  the  being 
gathered  unto  the  general  receptacle  of  happy  but 
waiting  souls.  The  expression  already  existing 
among  them,  received  here  the  sanction  and  seal  of 
Christ,  and  has  come  thus  to  be  accepted  by  the 
church,  which  has  understood  by  it  in  like  manner 
the  state  of  painless  expectation,  of  blissful  repose, 
wrhich  should  intervene  between  the  death  of  the  faith- 
ful in  Christ  Jesus,  and  their  perfect  consummation 
and  bliss  at  his  coming  in  his  glorious  kingdom.  It 
is  the  'Paradise'  of  Luke  xxiii.  4-3,  the  place  of  the 
souls  under  the  altar,  Rev.  vi.  9:  it  is,  as  some  dis- 
tinguish  it,  blessedness,  but  not  glory."* 

The  rich  man  also  dies,  but  in  hell  (hades)  he  lifts 
up  his  eyes,  not  being  in  "Abraham's  bosom,"  but 
"in  torment."  Abraham's  bosom  was  just  as  much 

•Trench's  Xotos  on  tho  P.-irnl.los.  ]>p.  37ft.  377. 


THE    INTERMEDIATE    STATE.  113 

in  hell,  (that  is,  in  hades,  or  the  place  of  departed 
spirits.)  as  was  the  place  of  "torment."  Mark,  also, 
that  they  are  represented  as  within  sight  and  hearing 
of  each  other,  though  there  is  an  impassable  gulf  be- 
tween them;  and  that  the  time  for  alleviating  each 
other's  sufferings,  and  for  exerting  an  influence  on 
earth  is  forever  past. 

"Abraham's  bosom  is  not  heaven,  though  it  will 
issue  in  heaven,  neither  is  hades  lJielV  though  to 

7  ?  O 

issue  in  it  when  death  and  hades  shall  be  cast  into  the 
lake  of  fire,  which  is  the  proper  hell.  Rev.  xx.  14. 
It  is  a  place  of  restraint  where  the  souls  of  the 
wicked  are  reserved  to  the  judgment  of  the  great 
wl^  &c."* 

So  fully  then  do  the  leading  features  of  this  para- 
ble answer  to  the  Jewish  theology  concerning  an  in- 
termediate state,  that  when  we  consider  to  whom  it 
was  addressed,  we  conclude,  not  only  that  it  was 
based  upon  that  doctrine,  but  that  our  Lord  intended 
thereby  to  endorse  the  doctrine  of  an  intermediate 
state,  upon  which  the  parable  is  so  obviously  founded. 

VII.  The  words  of  our  Lord  to  the  penitent  thief, 
"  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise,"  Luke 
xxiii.  43.  seem  also  to  imply  an  intermediate  state. 
That  this  penitent  was  a  Jew  and  not  a  Pagan,  is  evi- 
dent from  his  words  to  the  other  thief,  "  Dost  not 
thou  fear  GOD,  seeing  thou  art  in  the  same  condemna- 
tion ?"  He  must,  therefore,  have  understood  the  word 
Paradise,  as  used  by  our  Lord  in  its  ordinary  Jewish 
acceptation.  Primarily  it  denoted  the  garden  of 
Eden,f  from  which  it  came  to  be  used  for  any  place 

*  Trench's  Notes  on  the  Parables,  p.  379. 
f  Josephus'  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  book  I.  Chap.  I. 
8 


114  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOIL. 

of  "pleasure  or  delight;"  and  it  is  obviously  here 
used  by  the  Saviour  to  denote  the  abode  of  happy 
souls  after  death.  It  was  then  "  about  the  ninth 
hour,"  or  near  three  o'clock,  P.  M.,  and  the  promise. 
"To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise,"  im- 
ported that  before  that  Jewish  day,  which  would  end 
at  six  o'clock,  was  closed,  the  soul  of  the  praying 
penitent  should  be  with  the  soul  of  the  Redeemer,  in 
the  abode  of  departed  spirits. 

That  this  promise  was  literally  fulfilled  is  certain. 
The  only  remaining  question,  is,  Where  is  Paradise? 
Does  it  here  mean  heaven,  in  the  final  sense  of  that 
term,  or  simply  the  abode  of  happy  souls  in 
the  place  of  the  departed  ? 

Whatever  will  help  to  determine  where  the  soul  of 
Christ  was  while  his  body  lay  in  the  grave,  wilfttend 
in  the  same  measure,  to  determine  where  the  soul  of 
the  penitent  thief  was,  and  whether  there  is  or  is  not 
an  intermediate  place  of  souls,  distinct  from  heaven 
and  hell,  where  they  remain  till  after  the  final  judg- 
ment. Let  us  inquire,  then,  what  light  the  Scrip- 
tures throw  upon  the  first  of  these  questions. 

1.  In  the  sixteenth  Psalm  we  have  the  following 
prophecy  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ : — 

"  I  have  set  the  LORD  always  before  me :  because 
he  is  at  my  right  hand,  I  shall  not  be  moved.  There- 
fore my  heart  is  glad,  and  my  glory  rejoiceth :  my 
flesh  also  shall  rest  in  hope.  For  thou  wilt  not  leave 
my  soul  in  hell  ;  neither  wilt  thou  suffer  thine  Holy 
One  to  see  corruption." 

2.  In  the  second  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles, St.  Peter  distinctly  applies  this  passage  to  Christ 
and  his  resurrection  : — 


THE    INTJ-:iLMKl>IATt;    STATE.  115 

"For  David  speaketh  concerning  him,  I  foresaw 
the  Lord  always  before  my  face ;  for  he  is  on  my 
right  hand,  that  I  should  not  be  moved :  therefore 
did  my  heart  rejoice,  and  my  tongue  was  glad ;  more- 
over also  my  flesh  shall  rest  in  hope :  because  thou 
wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  hell,  neither  wilt  thou  suffer 
thine  Holy  One  to  see  corruption.  Thou  hast  made 
known  to  me  the  ways  of  life ;  thou  shalt  make  me 
full  of  joy  with  thy  countenance.  Men  and  brethren, 
let  me  freely  speak  unto  you  of  the  patriarch  David, 
that  he  is  both  dead  and  buried,  and  his  sepulchre  is 
with  us  unto  this  day.  Therefore  being  a  prophet, 
knowing  that  God  had  sworn  with  an  oath  to  him, 
'of  the  fruit  of  his  loins,  according  to  the  flesh, 
he  would  raise  up  Christ  to  sit  on  his  throne ;  he,  see- 
ing this  before,  spake  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 
that  Ms  soul  was  not  left  in  hell,  neither  his  flesh  did 
see  corruption.  This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up, 
whereof  we  all  are  witnesses." 

The  soul  of  Christ,  then,  was  in  hades — the  place 
of  departed  spirits — while  his  body  lay  in  the  grave  ; 
and  as  Paradise,  according  to  the  Jewish  idea,  was  a 
department  of  hades,  the  promise  to  the  penitent  thief 
and  the  remark  of  the  apostle  ("his  soul  was  not  left 
in  hell" — hades,)  are  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  idea 
that  the  Paradise  to  which  Christ  went,  and  where  he 
met  the  soul  of  the  penitent  thief,  was  in  hades,  or 
the  separate  place  of  souls,  and  not  in  the  final  abode 
of  the  righteous  after  the  resurrection.* 

3.  In  the  seventeenth  Psalm  the  Hebrew  word  trans- 
lated "  hell"  is  sheol,  which  simply  means  the  state  or 
place  of  the  dead,  without  reference  to  their  happiness 

*  See  Pearson  on  the  Creed,  American  edition,  page  346  and  onward. 


116  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

or  misery ;  and  in  Acts  ii.  27,  3r,  the  Greek  word 
hades,  also  rendered  "hell,"  has.  the  same  JTCIUT.-*! 
meaning.  The  soul  of  Christ  was  not  left  in  sheol  or 
hades,  whither  it  had  gone,  but  came  back  to  re-enter 
the  body  it  had  left,  which  was  not  suffered  to  see 
corruption.  It  is  clear  then,  that  the  "Paradise" 
where  the  soul  of  the  penitent  thief  met  that  of  Christ, 
was  in  hades,  where  the  soul  of  Christ  was,  but  from 
which  it  came  at  his  resurrection.  "  Thou  wilt  not 
leave  my  soul  in  hades." 

4.  Although  the  expression  "I  am  not  yet  ascended," 
John  xx.  17,  probably  relates  to  the  ascension  of  the 
body  of  Christ  to  heaven,  it  seems  hardly  eompa^rie 
with  the  idea  that  his  soul  ascended  thither  while  his 
body  lay  in  the   grave.     It   appears   much  more   in 
harmony  with  the   ancient   confession   that   his   soul 
"  descended  into  hell,"  or  hades,  the  place  of  departed 
souls,    and  did  not   ascend  to   the   heaven   of  glory 
where  the  righteous  shall  dwell  forever. 

5.  So  also  of  the  expression,  "  For  David  is  not  yet 
ascended  into  the  heavens,"  no  doubt  relates  mainly 
to  his  body  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  a  denial  that  the  pro- 
phecy just  cited  had  been  fulfilled  in  David  by  his  resur- 
rection.    And  yet  the  statement  seems  hardly  consis- 
tent with  the  popular  idea  that  the  soul  of  David  had 
at  that  time  been  in  the  heaven  of  heavens  more  than 
a  thousand  years.     But  upon  the  hypothesis  of  an  in- 
termediate state  all  is  clear.     He  was  in  "Paradise" 
or  "Abraham's"  bosom,  as  was  the  soul   of  Christ 
while  his  body  lay  in  the  grave ;  but  yet,  he  "  is  not 
ascended  into  heaven,"  and  will  not  so  ascend  till  his 
body  is   raised   in   glory.     Then,  like   their  glorious 
"  forerunner,"  the  saints  of  God  shall  ascend  far  above 


THE    INTERMEDIATE    STATE.  117 

all  heavens,  to  the  eternal  mansions  prepared  for 
them.  All  these  considerations  go  to  show  that  the 
words  of  Christ  to  the  penitent  thief  imply  what  is 
called  an  "Intermediate  State." 

VIII.  Despite  the  plausibility  of  the  popular  theory 
that  souls  go  either  to  heaven  or  hell  as  soon  as  the  body 
dies,  the  Holy  Scriptures  certainly  seern  to  teach  the 
doctrine  of  an  intermediate  place  of  souls,  called 
sheol  and  hades,  distinct  from  heaven  and  hell,  and 
where  souls  remain  from  death  to  the  resurrection — 
that  this  intermediate  place  embraces  Paradise  and 
Tartarus,  the  separate  abodes  of  the  spirits  of  the 
riditeous  and  the  wicked — that  hades  is  but  a  tem- 
porary abode  of  souls,  from  which  all  shall  come 
forth  in  the  resurrection,  when  hades  and  the 
.grave  shall  both  be  abolished; — and  that  following 
the  abolition  of  hades,  and  the  grave,  will  come  the 
general  judgment,  when  the  wicked  will  be  cast  into 
Tartarus  or  Gehenna,  (hell  itself,)  and  the  righteous 
exalted  to  the  heaven  of  heavens,  to  be  forever  with 
the  Lord. 

This  view  not  only  explains  such  Scriptures  as  "no 
man  hath  ascended  up  to  heaven,"  etc. ;  but  it  seems 
to  harmonize  the  order  of  events  at  the  end  of  time, 
and  to  vindicate  the  reasonableness  and  moral  gran- 
deur of  the  Day  of  Judgment.  It  also  greatly  exalts 
our  ideas  of  the  final  rewards  of  the  blessed,  to  con- 
ceive that  none  enter  upon  them  till  the  last  traces 
of  the  effects  of  sin  are  wiped  away  by  raising  even 
the  bodies  of  the  saints  to  glory  and  immortality. 

But  that  even  this  theory  has  its  difficulties,  we  are 
free  to  admit ;  though  they  seem  to  us  less  formidable 
than  those  which  beset  the  prevailing  popular  theology. 


118  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

To  the  common  objection  that  this  view  dims  the 
believer's  hope,  and  dampens  the  ardor  of  his  celestial 
longings,  by  obscuring  his  immediate  prospects  after 
death ;  and  deferring  the  bestowment  of  his  "  crown 
of  life,"  till  the  resurrection,  we  answer;  that  it  can 
only  be  the  case  where  the  theory  of  an  intermediate 
state  is  misunderstood.  The  believer's  conceptions  of 
his  future  rest  are  derived  from  the  descriptions  of 
the  Bible — the  robes  of  white — the  palms  of  victory — 
the  harps  of  gold — the  crowns  of  life,  and  songs  of 
everlasting  joy.  But  suppose  all  this  is  but  a  de- 
scription of  Paradise,  and  not  of  the  final  and  eternal 
mansions?  Suppose  it  should  turn  out  that  eye  hath 
not  seen,  nor  ear  heard  but  little  as  yet  even  in  the 
Scriptures,  of  that  "far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory,"  which  lies  beyond  the  resurrection 
morning  ? 

In  the  viith  chapter  of  Revelation  we  have  a  de- 
scription of  the  great  multitude  who  stand  before  the 
throne,  and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed  in  white  robes, 
and  with  palms  in  their  hands. 

In  the  xxth  chapter,  verses  12—15,  we  have  a  de- 
scription of  the  resurrection  and  judgment.  The 
former,  therefore,  if  descriptive  of  the  happiness  of 
the  righteous  in  another  life,  must  be  understood 
to  relate  only  to  the  intermediate  state,  and  not  to 
the  heaven  that  shall  follow  the  Day  of  Judgment. 
This  last  seems  to  be  more  especially  described  in 
Chapter  xxi. ;  for  immediately  after  the  description 
of  the  resurrection  and  general  judgment,  Chapter  xx., 
we  have  an  account  of  "a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth,"  the  first  heaven,  as  well  as  the  first  earth 
having  passed  away.  Then  follows  a  description  <>f 


THE    INTERMEDIATE    STATE.  119 

"  the  holy  city,  New  Jerusalem,"  the  everlasting  home 
of  all  whose  names  are  written  in  the  Lamb's  Book 
of  Life.  Now,  what  are  we  to  understand  by  the 
idea  that  the  first  heaven  is  to  pass  away,  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  the  New  Jerusalem,  if  it  be  not  that  "  Para- 
dise" or  "Abraham's  bosom,"  is  to  be  abolished  after 
the  resurrection,  to  be  followed  by  a  more  glorious 
mansion,  as  the  final  abode  of  the  saints  ?  May  not 
what  we  see  in  Rev.  vii.,  be  only  as  the  porter's  lodge, 
down  by  the  gates  of  immortality,  while  the  glorious, 
heavenly  mansion  is  as  yet  hidden  or  but  dimly  seen 
amid  the  unrevealed  glory  beyond  ? 

Not  a  shadow  is  thrown  across  the  flowery  plains  of 
Paradise,  by  the  idea  of  another  and  more  perfect 
rest  hereafter.  Oh  no  !  Let  the  Christian  still  gaze 
in  rapture  upon  the  white-robed  company  who  triumph 
there.  Let  him  listen  to  their  immortal  rejoicings. 
Let  him  know  that  to  all  this  his  freed  spirit  shall  be 
exalted  the  moment  it  leaves  the  earthly  tabernacle. 
Let  him  hope  and  long  for  this  rest,  as  he  may,  and 
he  shall  not  be  disappointed.  But  let  him  also  know, 
that  when  Christ  shall  descend  from  heaven  to  raise 
the  dead,  and  judge  all  men — when  their  salvation 
shall  thus  be  perfected,  and  he  shall  say  to  the  righte- 
ous, "inherit  the  kingdom;"  then  shall  he  enter  a 
world  of  beauty  and  splendor  to  which  Paradise,  with 
all  its  joys,  has  been  but  a  faint  and  imperfect  shadow  ; 
and  then  shall  he  know  "  the  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory."  And  having  entered  upon 
this  his  glorious  dwelling-place,  he  shall  go  out  no 
more ;  but  shall  be  forever  with  the  Lord. 

And  so  of  the  sinner.  The  "torments"  of  hades 
are  but  thr  beginning  of  his  sormAv.  For  when  his 


120  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

body  has  been  raised  as  Christ  has  said  "  u;it->  the 
resurrection  of  damnation,"  John  v.  29,  then  and  nut 
till  then  shall  he  be  punished  with  "  everlasting  de- 
struction;" — and  depart  into  "everlasting  fire,  pre- 
pared for  the  devil  and  his  angels." 

From  all  these  considerations,  then,  we  believe  the 
doctrine  of  an  "Intermediate  State;"  or  separate 
abode  of  souls  between  death  and  the  resurrection,  to 
be  a  doctrine  of  the  Bible  ;  and  to  be  taught  and  re- 
ceived as  such.  It  explains  all  those  Scriptures 
which  speak  of  the  rewarding  of  the  saints  at  the 
resurrection,  without  implying  that  they  have  no 
conscious  existence  till  then ;  and  is  in  other  respects 
amost  "wholesome  doctrine  and  very  full  of  comfort."* 

*  For  a  more  extended  treatment  of  the  subject  the  reader  is  referred 
to  Bishop  Hobart's  I'  State  of  the  Departed,"  and  to  Pierson  on  the 
Creed. 


IMMORTALITY  XOT  THROUGH  FAITH.      121 


CHAPTER   IX. 

IMMORTAL     EXISTENCE     XOT   A    RESULT    OF   FAITH     IN 
CHRIST. 

UNLIKE  the  open  Deism  of  the  past,  the  modern 
theory  of  annihilation  rests  largely  upon  the  assump- 
tion that  the  penalty  of  sin  is  extinction  of  being. 
The  idea  that  the  wicked  will  be  annihilated  at  the 
day  of  judgment  is  especially  dependent  upon  the 
former  assumption.  The  theory  is  that  the  penalty 
of  sin,  in  the  first  instance,  and  onward,  is  "death," 
in  the  sense  of  annihilation  ;  and  that,  consequently, 
all  who  fail  of  salvation  through  faith  in  Christ,  will 
finally  go  out  of  existence. 

Mr.  Dobney,  an  able  English  writer,  and  the  apostle 
of  this  school  of  theologians,  is  thus  clear  and  explicit 
upon  the  first  part  of  this  theory.  Commenting  upon 
Gen.  ii.  17,  "  In  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou 
shalt  surely  die,"  he  says  : — 

"  The  very  words  would  seem  to  shut  us  up  to  the 
idea  that  utter  destruction,  cessation  of  existence,  re- 
turn to  that  nothingness  out  of  which  the  divine 
power  had  called  him,  was  the  death  threatened  to 
our  first  father  in  case  of  transgression." 

Again: — "We  find  ourselves  imperatively  com- 
pelled to  believe  that  the  sentence  pronounced  in  case 


122  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOU  I,. 

of  transgression,  considered  in  itself,  and  as  it  must 
have  been  understood  by  Adam,  and  as  it  was  ex- 
pounded by  the  Judge  himself,  and  was  illustrated  in 
the  banishment  from  the  life-sustaining  tree,  *  *  * 
conveyed  the  sole  -idea  of  cessation  of  existence — a 
return  to  that  blank  nothingness  out  of  which  he  was 
brought — and  that  unless  a  remedial  system  had 
mercifully  intervened,  when  Adam  died  there  would 
have  been  an  utter  and  everlasting  extinction  of  his 
conscious  being." 

Still  again : — "  The  death  threatened  to  Adam  was 
the  death  of  the  entire  man,  the  cessation  of  all  con- 
scious existence,  etc."* 

• 

Mr.  Ellis,  an  American  advocate  of  annihilation, 
reiterates  the  same  view  : — "  The  penalty  threatened, 
was  to  end  in  death  ;  and  God's  interpretation  of  it 
plainly  declared,  that  it  would  result  in  death,  a 
gradual  returning  to  the  primitive  elements  of  his 
being,  the  dust ;  and  the  facts  show  that  it  did  result 
in  death,  in  the  entire  extinction  of  his  being,  "f 

Mr.  Hudson,  another  American  advocate  of  the 
future  annihilation  of  the  wicked,  seems  to  adopt  the 
same  views,  though  he  has  nowhere  stated  them  with 
equal  clearness. 

But  there  are  two  classes  of  theorists  in  this  country, 
who,  while  they  unite  in  denying  the  immortality  of 
man,  differ  widely  as  to  the  grounds  of  this  denial. 
One  class,  like  Messrs.  Storrs,  and  Ellis,  and  1  lu- 
tings regard  the  soul  as  a  material  essence — in  fact  as 
part  of  the  body — and  as  having  no  existence  whatever 
when  the  animal  organism  is  dissolved. 

*  Dobncy  on  Future  Punishment,  pp.  128.  134,  135. 
f  Biblr-  »•». Tradition,  p.  fi2. 


IMMORTALITY  NOT  THROUGH  FAITH.      123 

One  of  Mr.  Ellis'  chapters  is  entitled,  "  Proof  from 
the  Bible  of  the  corporeal  nature  and  mortality  of  the 
soul  of  man,  etc."  "  The  very  highest  nature,"  says 
he,  "  that  man  has,  irrespective  of  Christ  and  the  resur- 
rection, is  flesh,  an  evanescent  wind."*  When  the 
body  is  raised  again,  say  they,  the  soul  also  will  live 
again  ;  and  not  before  ;  and  when  at  the  judgment  the 
wicked  are  "burned  up,"  their  souls  will  go  out  of 
being  as  they  did  at  the  first  or  natural  death  of  the 
body ;  and  will  live  no  more  forever.  Now,  if  the 
first  assumption  were  true,  viz.  :  the  materiality  of  the 
spirit  of  man,  all  else  might  follow.  The  soul  might 
cease  to  live  when  the.  body  died,  and  only  live  again 
when  the  body  was  raised ;  and  if  the  body  was  again 
dissolved,  by  fire  or  any  other  means,  the  soul  might 
perish  with  it.  But  the  main  point  being  an  errone- 
ous assumption,  all  that  is  built  upon  it  must  be  with- 
out foundation. 

But  there  are  other  annihilationists  who  cannot 
quite  adopt  the  idea  that  the  soul  is  material,  and 
are,  therefore,  compelled  to  admit  its  conscious  exist- 
ence separate  from  and  independent  of  the  body ;  but 
who  nevertheless  hold  that  the  wicked  will  be  anni- 
hilated at  the  Day  of  Judgment.  Of  this  class  is  Mr. 
C.  F.  Hudson.  "The  writer."  says  he,  "with  many 
others,  regards  the  soul  not  as  a  mere  result  of  the 
physical  organism,  nor  as  dying  with  the  body.  By 
reason  of  the  Redemption,  or  in  some  other  divine 
economy,  the  entire  sentence  of  death  is  divided  in 
the  case  of  those  who  incur  it,  the  soul  finally  perish- 
ing in  the  so-called  '  second  death.'  "f 

This  theory  is,  if  possible,  more  absurd  than  that 

»  Treatise,  pp.  15,  20.  t  Christ  our  Life.,  p.  3. 


124  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

of  Mr.  Storrs ;  for  if,  as  Mr.  Hudson  admits,  the  soul 
is  to  such  an  extent  indestructible  as  to  survive  the 
dissolution  of  the  body,  and  live  for  ages  independent 
of  it,  that  fact  of  itself  furnishes  a  strong  presumption 
against  its  subsequent  annihilation,  by  any  catas- 
trophe that  may  overtake  it. 

Besides,  the  theory  of  "dividing"  the  penalty  is, 
to  say  the  least,  a  theological  novelty,  an  invention  to 
give  a  show  of  consistency  to  a  discordant  theological 
system.  The  original  decree  was  "IN  THE  DAY  that 
thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die."  Orthodox 
Christians  believe  the  death  threatened  to  have  been 
spiritual,  a  loss  of  God's  favour  and  falling  under  the 
curse  of  his  broken  law,  and  that  it  fell  upon  Adam 
and  Eve  that  day,  as  God  had  threatened.  But  those 
who,  like  Mr.  Hudson,  make  the  death  threatened  to 
consist  of  annihilation,  are  obliged  either  to  deny  that 
the  penalty  ever  visited  the  transgressors,  or  to  defer 
its  execution  till  the  body  dies  ;  and  then,  if  they  find 
the  soul  outliving  the  body,  must  follow  that  up  to 
the  last  day,  and  thus  complete  their  work  of  annihi- 
lation !  Thus  "  the  sentence  is  divided"  by  all  the 
years  that  lie  between  the  natural  death  of  the  first 
sinner,  when  his  body  perished,  and  the  day  of  Judg- 
ment, when  his  "death"  is  completed  by  the  annihila- 
tion of  his  soul ! 

Upon  this  theory  the  meaning  of  the  passage  "  in 
the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die," 
would  be,  "  thou  shalt  surely  die  sooner  or  later,  thy 
body  at  the  end  of  near  a  thousand  years,  (Gen.  v.  4,) 
and  the  soul  after  some  six  thousand  years  more,  i.  e. 
at  the  day  of  Judgment."  Surely,  this  is  not  only 


IMMORTALITY    NOT   THROUGH    FAITH.  125 

"dividing,"  but  deferring,  and  as  we  think  strangely 
distorting  "  the  sentence  of  death." 

But  to  come  to  the  particular  subject  of  this  chap- 
ter. It  is  admitted  that  the  everlasting  life  promised 
the  righteous,  and  the  "  death"  with  which  the  finally 
impenitent  are  threatened,  are  conditional.  "  He 
that  believeth  in  the  Son  of  God  shall  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life."  Christ  is,  indeed,  "our life," 
— the  living  bread  that  came  down  from  heaven,  of 
which  if  we  eat  we  shall  live  forever.  And  so,  on  the 
other  hand,  "the  wages  of  sin  is  death  ;"  and  he  that 
believeth  not  the  Son,  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath 
of  God  abideth  on  him. 

But  the  question  is,  what  do  "life"  and  "death" 
mean,  when  used  to  denote  the  results  of  faith  in 
Christ  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  unbelief  on  the  other  ? 
The  whole  controversy  turns  upon  the  settlement  of 
this  question.  If  "  everlasting  life,"  means  continued 
existence  merely,  and  "  death"  means  annihilation, 
the  question  is  settled.  Immortality  is  not  a  destiny 
but  a  privilege,  to  be  secured  by  faith.  But  if  the 
terms  "  life"  and  "  death"  as  thus  employed,  are  used 
metaphorically,  to  indicate  salvation,  or  deliverance 
from  spiritual  death  on  the  one  hand,  and  "  damna- 
tion," or  the  "second  death"  on  the  other,  then  the 
hypothesis  of  a  conditional  immortality  finds  no  sup- 
port from  the  doctrine  of  conditional  life  and  death. 

That  the  terms  above  referred  to,  are  used  meta- 
phorically, to  indicate  conditions  of  being,  and  not  ex- 
istence or  non-existence,  is  obvious  from  the  follow- 
ing considerations. 

I.  In  metaphorical  language  we  call  one  object  or 
quality  or  event  by  the  name  of  another,  on  account 


126  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

of  the  resemblance  between  the  two.  Thus  Christ  is  a 
"rock"  a  "vine,"  a  "lamb,"  &c.  And  as  the 
elements  of  language  are  derived  from  things  terres- 
trial and  visible,  all  ideas  in  regard  to  the  spiritual 
and  unseen  world  must  needs  be  conveyed  to  us  in 
terms  first  employed  in  reference  to  things  tem- 
poral and  material.  Hence  it  is  that  heaven  itself  is 
described  as  a  "city"  and  "country,"  and  even  the 
soul  of  man  can  find  no  more  etherial  word  with 
which  to  clothe  itself,  than  that  which  represents  the 
intangible  and  invisible  atmosphere. 

And  so  in  regard  to  the  terms  "  life"  and  "  death," 
when  used  to  indicate  rewards  and  punishments.  As 
life  is  the  most  precious  boon  known  to  mortals  here, 
it  is  employed  in  the  Scriptures  to  represent  the  ines- 
timable blessings  which  God  has  in  reserve  for  the 
righteous  ;  and  as  death  is  regarded  as  the  most 
dreaded  of  all  earthly  calamities  to  the  body,  it  is  em- 
ployed to  represent  the  great  calamity  to  the  soul  in  a 
coming  life — its  banishment  from  God's  presence  for 
ever. 

II.  If  the  term  "life,"  when  employed  as  above 
stated,  means  simple  existence,  and  "  death"  non-exist- 
ence, then  the  Scriptures  should  never  employ  any 
terms  or  phrases,  when  speaking  of  the  results  of  faith 
or  unbelief  in  this  life,  other  than  such  as  convey  this 
meaning,  and  may  be  substituted  by  the  term  immor- 
tal on  the  one  hand  and  annihilation  on  the  other. 
But  such  is  not  the  fact.  "  He  that  believeth  not, 
shall  be  damned,"  said  Christ.  Now  who  will  affirm 
that  the  damnation  here  spoken  of  is  not  the  final  re- 
ward of  unbelief,  or  that  it  does  not  distinctly  im- 
port a  malediction  resting  upon  a  still  living  soul  ? 


IMMORTALITY    NOT    TIIRuUCH    FAITH.  127 

Will  it  do  to  render  the  sentence,  "  lie  that  believeth 
and  is  baptized  shall  be  immortal,  and  he  that  believeth 
not,  shall  be  annihilated  ?"  Every  one  can  see,  by  this 
experiment,  that  the  words  "saved"  and  "  damned" 
are  not  used  in  the  sense  of  made  immortal  and  anni- 
hilated ;  and  consequently  that  such  do  not  constitute 
the  reward  and  penally  of  unbelief,  or  of  a  life  of 
sin. 

III.  If  the  final  "death"  of  the  sinner  were  annihila- 
tion, then  every  description  of  that  death  should  indi- 
cate not  only  freedom  from  all  suffering  for  ever,  but 
the  termination  of  all  existence.     It  would  be  as  mis- 
leading to  employ  terms  and  figures  and  parables  con- 
veying an  idea  of  suffering  beyond   the   day  of  judg- 
ment, as  it  would  to  speak  of  our  suffering  ages  before 
we  had  existence.     But  what  are  the  facts  ?     When 
the  righteous  enter  "  life   eternal"   the   wicked   "go 
away  into  everlasting  punishment."     Can  that  mean 
annihilation?     And  if  so,  how  is  it  "everlasting?' 
How  is  it,  if  the  wicked  go  out  of  being,  that  "  their 
worm  dieth  not  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched  ?"     How 
is  it  that  we  hear  the  voice  of  weeping  and  wailing 
and   gnashing  of  teeth  from  souls  that   have    been 
stricken  out  of  existence  ? 

IV.  If  it  had  been  the  design  of  Christ  and  his 
apostles  to  teach  that  the  penalty  of  sin  is  annihilation, 
while  continued  being  was  the  reward  of  piety,  a  doc- 
trine of  so  much   importance  would  not  have  been 
confined  to  the  use  of  the  terms  life  and  death,  (which 
have  never  been  understood  to  imply  simple  existence 
and  non-existence,  except  by  the  Deist  and  the  unen- 
lightened heathen)  but  would  have  been  expressed  in 
other  words,  as  the  true  sense  of  these  terms  now  is. 


128  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOI 'L. 

The  righteous  are  to  "inherit  the  kingdom" — to 
"sit  down  in  the  kingdom  of  God" — to  walk  with 
Christ  in  white,  etc.,  all  as  elements  of  salvation  and 
results  of  saving  faith  in  Christ ;  but  by  no  terms  or 
figures  is  the  idea  ever  conveyed  that  their  salvation 
consists  either  wholly  or  in  part  in  deliverance  from 
annihilation.  They  praise  God  that  their  robes  have 
been  washed,  and  made  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb ;  that  is,  that  they  have  been  fitted  for  a  blissful 
eternity;  but  never  for  release  from  utter  extinction. 
No  such  danger  ever  threatened  them,  and  they 
praise  God  and  the  Lamb  for  no  such  deliverance. 

And  aside  from  the  terms  "die"  and  "death," 
neither  of  which  imply  annihilation,  there  is  not  a 
warning  or  admonition  in  all  the  Bible  that  enforces 
faith  in  Christ  by  the  threat  of  annihilation.  The 
appeal  is  always  to  the  more  terrible  and  consequently 
more  potent  consideration  of  endless  banishment  from 
God,  and  from  the  glory  of  his  power. 

V.  Those  who  insist  that  the  term  "  deatJi"  as  applied 
to  the  sinner  in  a  future  state,  implies  annihilation, 
ought  to  be  able  to  show  that  such  is  its  meaning 
when  applied  to  man  in  this  world;  that  is,  that  when 
a  wicked  man,  at  least,  dies  in  this  world  he  ceases  to 
exist.  But  instead  of  this  Mr.  Hudson  admits  that 
his  soul  lives  on  for  ages,  though  in  the  language  of 
earth  he  is  dead.  If,  then,  the  term  does  not  imply 
non-existence  in  its  original  application,  by  what 
stretch  of  interpretation  is  it  made  to  signify  extinc- 
tion of  being  in  another  life  ? 

Even  the  materialist,  who  holds  to  the  future  re- 
surrection and  annihilation  of  the  wicked,  does  not 
r<  Lrard  natural  death  as  an  annihilation.  Though 


IMMORTALITY   NOT   THROUGH    FAITH.  129 

their  theory  might  logically  compel  them  to  regard  it 
in  this  light,  nevertheless,  they  keep  up  the  personal 
identity  in  some  way,  from  death  to  the  resurrection ; 
— a  supposition  utterly  irreconcilable  with  the  idea 
that  natural  death  is  annihilation.  To  such  also  we 
may  ask  with  equal  propriety,  why  do  you  under- 
stand the  terms  "death"  and  "die"  to  imply  cessa- 
tion of  being?  Is  it  not  a  meaning  foreign  to  their 
original  import  even  according  to  your  own  admissions  ? 

From  age  to  age  and  from  pole  to  pole  the  term 
"death"  when  applied  to  man  here  has  been  under- 
stood to  mean  a  certain  condition  of  being,  and  not 
non-existence.  And  so  you  still  understand  it. 
Why,  then,  do  you  not  understand  it  in  the  same 
sense  when  applied  to  man  in  a  future  state ;  that  is, 
as  imparting  a  circumstance  or  quality  of  existence, 
rather  than  annihilation? 

Such  is  beyond  all  question  the  sense  in  which  the 
term  is  employed  in  the  Bible;  so  that  when  "life"  is 
promised  to  such  as  believe  in  Christ,  it  does  not 
mean  immortal  existence  merely,  but  eternal  HAPPI- 
NESS. Hence,  future  HAPPINESS  alone  is  conditioned 
upon  faith  in  Christ,  and  not  our  future  being.  Con- 
sequently the  future  non-existence  of  the  wicked 
cannot  follow  for  lack  of  a  vital  connection  with 
Christ,  by  faith  in  him.  He  is  "  our  life  "  in  that  he 
restores  the  soul  to  spiritual  life  by  his  Spirit,  raises 
our  bodies  from  the  dead,  and  finally  crowns  the 
righteous  with  glory  in  heaven.  But  our  immortal  ex- 
istence is  not  made  dependent  upon  the  reception  or 
rejection  of  salvation  through  his  name.  We  shall 
exist  forever,  whether  in  happiness  through  faith  in 
Christ  and  a  holy  life,  or  in  misery  through  a  life 


130  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

of  sin,  and  the  rejection  of  offered  mercy  through  Him, 
the  only  Saviour. 

But  there  are  yet  other  views  of  the  doctrine  of 
annihilation  which  will  require  to  be  considered  in  a 
distinct  chapter. 


SUPPOSED  ANNIHILATION  OF  THE  WICKED.       131 


CHAPTER    X. 

SUPPOSED  ANNIHILATION    OF  THE  WICKED  AT  THE  DAY 
OF   JUDGMENT. 

THOUGH  the  particular  subject  of  this  chapter  is 
not  necessarily  connected  with  the  question  whether 
or  not  the  soul  survives  the  death  of  the  body,  still  as 
the  doctrine  of  the  annihilation  of  the  wicked  is  often 
taught  in  connection  with  that  of  the  sleep  or  death 
of  souls,  and  is  directly  opposed  to  the  idea  of  an 
unending  existence  after  death,  we  deem  it  proper  to 
devote  a  few  pages  to  its  special  consideration. 

The  prevailing  belief  among  Christians,  is,  that 
when  Christ  again  appears  he  will  raise  all  the  dead — 
the  just  and  the  unjust — that  they  will  all  be  sum- 
moned before  his  judgment-seat  and  judged;  and  that 
the  wicked  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punish- 
ment, while  the  righteous  will  inherit  eternal  life. 
But  the  new  theory  recently  promulgated,  asserts 
that  the  wicked,  having  been  raised  from  the  dead 
and  judged,  will  then  be  stricken  out  of  being,  or 
utterly  annihilated.*  So  far  as  we  are  aware,  this 

*  Materialists  are  not  exactly  agreed  upon  this  particular  point.  'Mr. 
Ellis,  in  his  "Bible  vs.  Tradition"  contends  that  the  wicked  shall  cease 
to  exist,  but  dodges  the  question  whether  or  not  they  shall  be  raised 
from  the  dead.  See  page  234,  where  he  asks  in  capitals.  '-WILL  THE 
DEAD  BE  RAISED  TO  LIFE  AGAIN  ?"  but  leaves  it  unanswered. 


132  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

doctrine  is  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  class  of 
Second  Adventists  already  alluded  to;  and  as  they 
profess  to  found  their  belief  upon  this  point  also 
upon  the  Scriptures,  it  may  be  well  to  notice  some 
of  the  more  prominent  passages  upon  which  they  de- 
pend. 

I.  Those  Scriptures  that  speak  of  the  wicked  as  to 
be  "destroyed,"  are  claimed  as  teaching  that  they 
shall  be  annihilated.     But  destruction  and  annihilar 
tion  are  very  different  things.     A  thing  is  said  to  be 
destroyed  when  it   is    seriously  injured.     Thus    St. 
Paul  said,  "Destroy  not  him  with  thy  meat,  for  whom 
Christ  died,"  Rom.   xiv.  15;   but  surely  he  did  not 
mean  to  warn  the  Romans  against  annihilating  each 
other.     So  Christ  came  to  destroy  the  Devil,  Heb.  ii. 
14;  but  did  he  annihilate  him?     And  do  the  wicked 
who  "destroy  the  earth,"  Rev.  xi.  18,  annihilate  the 
earth  ?     Though  the  term  is  used  in  a  great  variety 
of  senses  it  never  means  to  annihilate ;  consequently 
the  threatened  destruction  of  the  wicked  is  no  proof 
of  their  approaching  annihilation. 

II.  It   is   said   the   wicked  are   to  "perish"  and 
must,    therefore,    go   out   of  existence.     But   if  we 
attach  this  sense  to  the  term  perish,  we  can  prove  not 
only  the  annihilation  of  the  wicked,  but  of  the  right- 
So  far  as  he  has  shown  to  the  contrary,  he  believed  that  when  a  sinner 
dies,  that  is  the  end  of  him  forever.     Mr.  Dobney  and  Mr.  Hudson,  on 
the  contrary,  are  plainly  committed  to  a  general  resurrection,  and  the 
."uliseijuent  annihilation  of  the  wicked;   while  Mr.  Storrs  teaches  the 
resurrection  of  all,  and  the  subsequent  annihilation  of  all  wicked  men 
and  devils.     He  says,  "the  death  which    is  the  wages  of  sin  is — an 
actual  extermination  of  being ;"  and  also  that  the  wicked  "are  not  pun- 
ished till  after  the  judgment  of  the  great  day."     Sermons,  pp.  16,  17. 
Of  course,  then,  their  annihilation  does  not  take  place  till  after  they 
are  raised  from  the  dead. 


SUPPOSED  ANNIHILATION  OF  THE  WICKED.       133 

eous  also.  "There  is  a  just  man  that  perisheth  in  his 
righteousness;"  Eccl.  vii.  15.  "The  righteous  perish- 
eth  and  no  man  layeth  it  to  heart;"  Isa.  Ivii.  1.  St. 
Peter  says.  2d  Epistle,  iii.  6,  that  "the  "world  being 
overflowed  with  water,  perished."  But  was  the  globe 
then  annihilated?  Of  the  "heavens"  and  the 
"earth,"  it  is  said,  "they  shall  perish;"  Heb.  i.  11; 
and  yet  when  this  perishing  is  explained,  it  is  said, 
"and  they  shall  be  changed."  They  perish,  but  are 
not  annihilated.  So  of  the  wicked — they  shall  perish, 
that  is,  they  shall  be  condemned  and  sent  away  into 
everlasting  punishment,  but  their  existence,  like  that 
of  the  old  world  which  perished  by  water,  shall  con- 
tinue on  forever  and  ever. 

III.  Several  passages  that  speak  of  the  wicked  as 
to  be  "consumed,"  are  urged  in  proof  of  their  annihi- 
lation.    But   this  term,  like   destroy  and  perish,  is 
never  used  in  the  sense  of  annihilated.     "I  shall  one 
day  be  consumed  by  the  hand  of  Saul,"  said  David, 
1  Sam.  xxvii.  1;  but  surely  he  did  not  expect  Saul  to 
annihilate  him.     So  the  Psalmist  said,  "Mine  eye  is 
consumed,"  Psa.  vi.  7;  and  "My  bones  are  consumed," 
Psa.  xxxi.  10 ;  and  yet  neither  his  eye  nor  his  bones 
were  annihilated.     Of  man  as  a  race  it  is  said,  "  For 
we  are  consumed  by  thine  anger,"  Psa.  xc.  7,  though 
the  race  yet  lived;   and  God  said  of  the  children  of 
Israel,   "I   have   consumed  them   in   mine    anger;" 
though  they  were  then  living  by  hundreds  of  thousands. 
"Take  heed,"  says  the  apostle,  "that  ye  be  not  con- 
sumed one  of  another."  Gal.  v.  15.     Does  the  word 
"consumed"  then,  mean  annihilated? 

IV.  But  it  is  said,  "  The  wicked  are  to  be  burned 
up,  which  must  mean,  put  out  of  existence."     By  no 


134  THE    IMMORTALITY    OP    THE    SOUL. 

means.  Literal  burning  annihilates  nothing.  The 
wood  may  be  decomposed,  and  its  elements  scattered 
in  the  form  of  flame,  and  vapor,  and  smoke,  and 
ashes,  but  nothing  goes  out  of  existence  by  the  pro- 
cess of  combustion.  Hence,  "burning  up"  never 
implies  annihilation. 

Besides;  The  passages  that  most  strongly  assert 
the  burning  up  of  the  wicked,  are  found  in  the  last 
chapter  of  Malachi : 

"For,  behold,  the  day  cometh,  that  shall  burn  as 
an  oven;  and  all  the  proud,  yea,  and  all  that  do 
wickedly,  shall  be  stubble :  and  the  day  that  cometh 
shall  burn  them  up,  saith  the  LORD  of  hosts,  that  it 
shall  leave  them  neither  root  nor  branch." 
******* 

"And  ye  shall  tread  down  the  wicked ;  for  they  shall 
be  ashes  under  the  soles  of  your  feet,  in  the  day  that 
I  shall  do  this,  saith  the  LORD  of  hosts." 

And  yet,  this  predicted  burning  up  was  all  accom- 
plished at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans, 
when  few,  if  any  of  the  wicked  were  literally  burned, 
and  not  one  of  them  literally  became  as  ashes  under 
the  feet  of  the  Christians. 

Of  the  latter  it  was  said,  "  But  unto  you  that  fear 
my  name  shall  the  Sun  of  righteousness  arise  with 
healing  in  his  wings;  and  ye  shall  go  forth,  and  grow 
up  as  calves  of  the  stall."  Accordingly  they  all 
escaped  unhurt.  But  the  Jews  were  slaughtered  in 
great  numbers,  and  their  city,  Jerusalem,  was  laid 
waste.  And  this  is  described  in  the  glowing  language 
of  prophecy  as  "burning  them  up;"  and  making  them 
as  "ashes  under  the  soles  of  their  feet." 

That  the  above  is  the  true  meaning  of  the  passages 


SUPPOSED  ANNIHILATION  OF  THE  WICKED.       135 

cited,  is  evident  from  the  last  two  verses  of  the 
chapter: — "Behold,  I  will  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet 
before  the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of 
the  LORD  :  and  he  shall  turn  the  heart  of  the  father 
to  the  children,  and  the  heart  of  the  children  to 
their  fathers,  lest  I  come  and  smite  the  earth  with  a 
curse." 

Now  this  Elijah,  or  Elias,  who  came,  was  John  the 
Baptist.  Gabriel  had  said  of  him  before  his  birth, 
"And  he  shall  go  before  him  [Christ]  in  the  spirit 
and  power  of  Elias,  to  turn  the  hearts  of  the  fathers 
to  the  children,  and  the  disobedient  to  the  wisdom  of 
the  just;  to  make  ready  a  people  prepared  for  the 
Lord."  Our  Saviour  said,  "For  all  the  prophets 
and  the  law  prophesied  until  John.  And  if  ye  will 
receive  it,  this  is  Elias,  which  was  for  to  come."  Matt, 
xi.  13, 14. 

"And  they  asked  him,  saying,  Why  say  the  scribes 
that  Elias  must  first  come?  And  he  answered  and 
told  them,  Elias  verily  cometh  first,  and  restoreth  all 
things ;  and  how  it  is  written  of  the  Son  of  man,  that 
he  must  suffer  many  things,  and  be  set  at  nought. 
But  I  say  unto  you,  That  Elias  is  indeed  come,  and 
they  have  done  unto  him  whatsoever  they  listed,  as  it 
is  written  of  him."  Mark  ix.  11-13. 

John  was  Elias  metaphorically,  because  he  had  "the 
spirit  and  power  of  Elias."  And  he  was  sent  "before 
the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the 
Lord,"  when  he  visited  his  chosen  people  with  sore 
judgments,  and  made  Mount  Zion  a  perpetual  desola- 
tion. It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  this  "burning 
up"  of  the  wicked,  upon  which  modern  Annihilation- 
ists  depend  so  much,  not  only  falls  infinitely  short 


136  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

of  the  annihilation  of  anything,  but  has  no  reference 
whatever  to  the  day  of  judgment,  or  the  final  destruc- 
tion of  the  wicked. 

Several  other  terms  employed  in  the  Scriptures  to 
represent  the  punishment  of  the  wicked,  such  as  that 
they  shall  be  "slain,"  "devoured,"  "blotted  out," 
"hewn  down,"  "cut  off,"  etc.,  are  urged  as  teaching 
the  doctrine  of  annihilation ;  but  such  a  use  of  these 
terms  is  so  evident  a  perversion  of  their  meaning  that 
it  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to  consider  them  in  detail. 
They  are  all  of  the  same  general  class  and  import, 
when  applied  to  the  punishment  of  the  sinner,  and 
can  never,  by  any  fair  construction,  be  pressed  into 
the  service  of  annihilationism. 

V.  The  notion  that  the  wicked  are  first  to  be  raised 
from  the  dead  and  then  struck  out  of  existence,  as  the 
punishment  for  their  sins,  is  not  only  without  warrant 
from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  but  is  liable  to  many  other 
insuperable  objections. 

1.  It  is  in  direct  conflict  with  Eccl.  iii.  14;  "I 
know  that,  whatsoever  God  doeth,  it  shall  stand  for- 
ever: nothing  can  be  put  to  it,  nor  anything  taken 
from  it :  and  God  doeth  it,  that  men  should  fear  be- 
fore him."  That  this  passage  relates  to  the  doings 
of  Jehovah  in  the  work  of  creation,  is  obvious  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  true  of  him  in  no  other  respect. 
"Whatsoever  God  doeth,"  in  creating,  "shall  stand 
forever ;" — shall  never  go  out  of  existence.  "Nothing 
can  be  put  to  it" — no  being  can  add  to  the  creation 
of  God, — "nor  anything  taken  from  it" — nothing 
which  God  ushers  into  being  can  be  uncreated,  or  put 
out  of  being.  "And  God  doeth  it  that  men  should 
fear  before  him" — that  is,  that  they  may  know  that 


SUPPOSED  ANNIHILATION  OF  THE  WICKED.       137 

they  shall  forever  exist,  and  may  fear  the  unending 
consequences  of  a  life  of  sin.  But  the  wicked  have 
little  to  "fear"  if  the  worst  that  awaits  them  after 
death  is  an  eternity  of  non-existence  !  Such  an 
object  of  fear  is  precisely  like  the  vacuity  of  being 
which  filled  eternal  ages  before  our  existence  began. 

2.  This  theory  makes  no  distinction  between  the 
state  of  the  sinner  before  and  after  the  day  of  judg- 
ment.    It  generally  assumes  that  their  souls  go  out 
of  existence  at  death ;  are  re-produced  by  the  resur- 
rection; and  then  sent  back,  again  into  non-existence, 
precisely  as  they  were  before  they  were  raised.     To 
what,  then,  does  their  condemnation  and  punishment 
amount,  if  they  were    suffering  precisely  the    same 
penalty  before  as  after  the  resurrection?     They  are 
simply  raised  up  from  the  fathomless  abyss  of  non- 
existence,  to  be  plunged  back  again  into  the  same 
infinite  depths,  to  remain  there  forever  ! 

3.  This  theory  consigns  the  righteous  to  the  same 
punishment  from  death  to  the  resurrection,  (which  in 
some  cases  must  be  many  thousand  years,)  which  is 
inflicted  upon  the  wicked  in  the  last  day.     The  souls 
of  the  righteous  are  said  to  become  extinct  with  the 
death  of  the  body.     Not  only  does  all  consciousness 
cease,  but  their  very  being  ends.     And  this  is  all  that 
the  wicked  are  said  to  suffer  after  the  day  of  judg- 
ment.    They  are  simply  sent  back  where  the  right- 
eous were  from  death  to  the  resurrection ! 

4.  The  doctrine  of  the  annihilation  of  the  wicked 
is  contrary  to  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  degrees  of 
punishment  in    a  future    state.     Christ  said,   "^Yoe 
unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites !  for  ye 
devour  widows'  houses,  and  for  a  pretence  make  long 


138  THE    IMMORTALITY   OP   THE    SOUL. 

prayer :  therefore  ye  shall  receive  the  greater  damna- 
tion," Matt,  xxiii.  14;  implying  that  there  are  de- 
grees of  "  damnation,"  or  punishment,  in  reserve  for 
the  wicked. 

Again  he  said,  "And  that  servant,  which  knew  his, 
lord's  will,  and  prepared  not  himself,  neither  did 
according  to  his  will,  shall  be  beaten  with  many  stripes. 
But  he  that  knew  not,  and  did  commit  things  worthy 
of  stripes,  shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes.  For  unto 
whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him  shall  be  much  re- 
quired; and  to  whom  men  have  committed  much,  of 
him  they  will  ask  the  more."  Luke  xii.  47,  48.  The 
"stripes,"  or  punishment,  is  to  be  proportioned  to 
the  knowledge  and  guilt  of  the  individual  sinner. 

To  the  same  effect  is  the  statement,  Rev.  xx.  12, 
that  men  are  to  be  judged  "according  to  their 
works;"  and  Rev.  xxii.  12,  that  they  are  to  be  re- 
warded upon  the  same  principle;  "And,  behold,  I 
come  quickly ;  and  my  reward  is  with  me,  to  give 
every  man  according  as  his  work  shall  be."  These 
passages  plainly  involve  the  doctrine  of  degrees  of 
punishment,  for  sins  committed  in  this  life.  The 
hypocritical  Pharisee,  who,  for  a  pretence  makes 
long  prayers,  and  yet  devours  widows'  houses,  is  to 
receive  a  "greater  damnation"  than  the  common 
sinner.  Some  are  to  be  beaten  with  few  stripes,  and 
some  with  many,  according  to  their  guilt. 

But  how  can  this  be  true  if  the  wicked  are  to  be 
annihilated?  Are  there  any  degrees  in  annihilation  ? 
Certainly  not.  Consequently  if  that  is  the  penalty 
of  sin,  the  punishment  of  all  would  be  precisely  alike, 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  word  of  God. 

5.  The  apostle  speaks,  Heb.  x.  28,  29,  of  a  "much 


SUPPOSED  ANNIHILATION  OF  THE  WICKED.       139 

sorer  punishment"  than  death.  "  He  that  despised 
Moses'  law  died  without  mercy  under  two  or  three 
witnesses:  of  how  much  sorer  punishment,  suppose 
ye,  shall  he  be  thought  worthy,  who  hath  trodden 
under  foot  the  Son  of  God,  and  hath  counted  the 
blood  of  the  covenant,  wherewith  he  was  sanctified, 
an  unholy  thing,  and  hath  done  despite  unto  the  Spirit 
of  grace  ?" 

But  if  death  is  the  extinction  of  conscious  being, 
and  this  is  to  be  the  penalty  visited  upon  the  wicked 
after  they  are  raised  and  judged,  there  is  no  sorer 
punishment  than  death.  And  though  those  who 
trample  under  foot  the  Son  of  God  are  "worthy"  of  a 
"much  sorer  punishment"  than  those  who  rejected 
the  law  of  Moses,  still  no  difference  can  be  made. 
They  must  all  drink  the  same  lethean  draught  of  anni- 
hilation, and  go  out  of  being  alike  and  forever. 

6.  The  penalty  of  sin  is  never  represented  as  anni- 
hilation, but  always  as  positive  and  conscious  suffering. 
Take  the  following  passages  as  specimens  : 

Matt.  xxv.  30: — "And  cast  ye  the  unprofitable 
servant  into  outer  darkness:  there  shall  be  weeping 
and  gnashing  of  teeth." 

Luke  xii.  28 : — "  There  shall  be  weeping  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth,  when  ye  shall  see  Abraham,  and  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  and  all  the  prophets,  in  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  you  yourselves  thrust  out." 

Luke  xvi.  23: — "And  in  hell  he  lifted  up  his  eyes, 
being  in  torments." 

Rom.  ii.  8,  9  : — "  Indignation  and  wrath,  tribula- 
tion and  anguish,  upon  every  soul  of  man  that  doeth 
evil;  of  the  Jew  first,  and  also  of  the  Gentile." 

Such  passages  are  utterly  irreconcilable  with  the 


140  THE    IMMORTALITY   OP   THE   SOUL. 

doctrine  that  the  wicked  are  to  be  annihilated. 
Their  punishment  is  to  consist  of  "  anguish"  and 
"torment," — manifesting  itself  in  "weeping  and 
gnashing  of  teeth." 

7.  This  theory  is  directly  opposed  to  the  plain  teach- 
ing of  the  Scriptures,  that  the  punishment  of  the 
sinner  shall  be  everlasting.* 

Matt.  xxv.  46: — "And  these  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment:  but  the  righteous  into  life 
eternal."  In  this  text  the  Greek  word  rendered 
"everlasting"  is  aionion — a  word  which  in  its  proper 
grammatical  sense  means  unending.  It  is  the  word 
almost  invariably  used  in  the  New  Testament  to 
represent  the  unending  joys  of  the  righteous.  Take 
the  following  instances  as  examples : 

Matt.  xix.  16: — "And  behold,  one  came  and  said 
unto  him,  Good  Master,  what  good  thing  shall  I  do 
that  I  may  have  eternal  life?" 

Mark  x.  30: — "But  he  shall  receive  an  hundred- 
fold now  in  this  time,  houses,  and  brethren,  and 
sisters,  and  mothers,  and  children,  and  lands,  with 
persecutions;  and  in  the  world  to  come,  eternal  life." 

Luke  x.  25: — "And  behold,  a  certain  lawyer  stood 
up,  and  tempted  him,  saying,  Master,  what  shall  I  do 
to  inherit  eternal  life?" 

John  iii.  16  : — "  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that 
he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  him,  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life.11 

Besides,  it  is  the  very  word  used  for  this  purpose 
in  the  passage  first  cited: — "But  the  righteous  into 

*  For  an  excellent  summary  of  the  Scripture  testimony  upon  this 
point,  see  Lee's  Theology,  pp.  311-331,  inclusive. 


SUPPOSED  ANNIHILATION  OF  THE  WICKED.       141 

zoen  ten  aionion — life  eternal"  The  punishment  of 
the  wicked  must  be  coeval,  therefore,  with  the  eternal 
life  of  the  righteous. 

But  this  cannot  be  true,  if  the  wicked  cease  to 
exist  just  when  the  joys  of  the  righteous  begin.  Upon 
this  hypothesis  their  punishment  is  but  for  a  moment, 
during  the  process  of  annihilation,  or  at  most  from 
the  time  they  are  raised  from  the  dead  till  they  again 
go  out  of  being. 

The  only  reply  that  can  be  made  to  this  objection 
is,  that  as  their  non-existence  is  endless,  the  punish- 
ment thus  becomes  eternal.  We  answer,  that  punish- 
ment is  "  pain  or  suffering  inflicted  on  a  person  for  a 
crime  ;"*  and  necessarily  implies  a  subject  of  such  pun- 
ishment. Surely  the  sinner  cannot  be  "punished," 
ages  after  he  has  ceased  to  exist.  If,  then,  he  is  to 
go  away  into  everlasting  "punishment,"  his  existence 
must  be  unending. 

No  punishment  or  damnation  can  possibly  exist,  in 
reference  to  a  being  that  has  no  existence.  And  if 
the  wicked  are  to  go  away  into  everlasting  punish- 
ment, as  the  Scriptures  affirm,  they  must  exist  for- 
ever ;  and  the  idea  of  their  annihilation  is  erro- 
neous. 

8.  The  doctrine  under  consideration  is  in  direct 
conflict  with  every  description  of  the  day  of  judgment 
and  the  punishment  of  the  wicked.  To  them  it  is  to 
be  said,  "  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting 
fire,"  Matt.  xxv.  41,  and  they  shall  "  go  away"  into 
this  "everlasting  punishment."  How  can  a  being 
that  is  annihilated  "depart"  from  Christ,  or  "go 
away"  into  punishment  at  all?  The  unprofitable 

*  Webster. 


142  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

servant,  verse  30th,  is  to  be  "  cast  into  outer  dark- 
ness," but  not  annihilated.  The  wicked  shall  be 
"  cast  into  a  furnace  of  fire,"  Matt.  xiii.  50,  but  in- 
stead of  its  being  the  end  of  their  existence,  they 
shall  still  live  on;  for  "there  shall  be  wailing  and 
gnashing  of  teeth."  The  man  who  had  not  on  a 
wedding  garment,  Matt.  xxii.  13,  was  "  taken  away 
and  cast  into  outer  darkness."  But  here  also,  was 
"weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth;"  i.  e.,  intense  and 
conscious  suffering.  "Except  a  man  be  born  again, 
he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God;"  and  "he  that 
believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  But  in  neither  case 
is  it  said  that  they  shall  be  annihilated.  The  foolish 
virgins  are  shut  out  of  heaven,  but  they  still  live  to 
cry,  "Lord,  Lord,  open  to  us;"  Matt.  xxv.  10,  11. 
And  those  who  seek  improperly,  or  too  late,  and  are 
consequently  not  able  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate, 
are  to  "stand  without  and  knock,  and  say,  Lord,  Lord, 
open  to  us."  But  to  all  such  Christ  will  say,  "De- 
part from  me,  all  ye  that  work  iniquity."  Luke  xiii. 
24-27.  How  very  different  all  this  from  the  sentence 
of  utter  annihilation  ! 

9.  This  doctrine  really  destroys  all  personal  iden- 
tity in  the  day  of  judgment,  and  all  personal  respon- 
sibility, on  the  part  of  the  souls  that  shall  then  exist, 
for  the  acts  of  the  previous  life.  For  if  man  has  no 
soul,  distinct  from  his  body,  then  memory,  and  know- 
ledge, and  moral  accountability  must  be  perpetuated 
in  the  grave,  and  their  seat  must  be  in  the  moulder- 
ing ashes  of  the  dead,  or  they  can  have  no  perpetuity 
whatever.  But  as  this  cannot  be,  and  is  denied  even 
by  Annihilationists  themselves,  it  follows  upon  their 
theory,  that  the  accountable  moral  agent  becomes 


SUPPOSED  ANNIHILATION  OF  THE  WICKED.        143 

extinct  at  death.  So,  if  this  theory  be  true,  all 
memory,  and  knowledge,  and  consciousness,  and  ac- 
countability are  then  at  an  end. 

But  when  the  body  is  raised  again,  the  power  that 
thinks,  and  reasons,  and  remembers,  is  re-produced; 
or  rather  a  soul  is  evolved ;  for  it  is  in  fact  a  new 
creation.  That  which  before  did  not  exist  is  brought 
into  being.  Now  we  should  like  to  know  what  con- 
nection this  conscious  spirit  can  have  with  the  spirit 
or  soul  of  the  former  body?  Is  the  electricity  gen- 
erated by  an  electrical  machine  to-day,  the  same  that 
was  generated  by  the  same  instrument  a  hundred 
years  ago  ? 

So  of  the  risen  dead:  will  the  souls  evolved  in  the 
resurrection,  according  to  this  theory,  be  the  same  as 
those  evolved  by  the  mortal  bodies  before  they  died? 
Will  they  knoiv  what  was  known  by  spirits  of  the 
former  bodies,  and  remember  the  events  of  the  present 
life  ?  And  if  not,  wherein  consists  the  identity  ? 
What  chain  connects  the  resurrection  spirit,  so  to 
speak,  with  the  mortal  spirit,  or  spirit  that  knew,  and 
thought,  and  remembered  in  the  first  body?  How 
can  the  soul  of  the  resurrection  body  remember  what 
took  place  before  it  came  into  existence?  And  how 
can  it  be  accountable  for  what  was  done  by  the  former 
spirit,  that  has  long  before  ceased  to  exist? 

Take  away,  then,  the  continued  and  conscious  ex- 
istence of  the  soul  between  death  and  the  resurrection, 
and  we  have  no  means  of  personal  identity — no  link 
connecting  the  moral  and  accountable  agents  of  the 
resurrection  morning,  with  those  who  lived  and  sinned 
or  served  God  here  in  the  present  life.  The  alleged 
extinction  of  the  soul  at  death,  creates  a  parenthesis 


144  THE    IMMORTALITY    UF    THE    SOUL. 

of  being — a  yawning  chasm  of  non-existence,  over  which 
the  spirit  shall  never  wing  its  backward  flight  to  call 
up  the  memories  of  the  life  it  once  lived  in  the  body. 

If  the  theory  be  true,  the  soul  that  is  evolved  in  the 
resurrection,  is  a  new-born  soul.  It  can  no  more 
know  or  remember  what  took  place  in  the  body  before 
death,  than  we  can  remember  what  took  place  a 
thousand  ages  before  we  existed.  Neither  can  it  be 
responsible  for  anything  back  of  its*  own  conscious 
doings,  after  it  is  brought  into  being  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body.  Why,  then,  should  it  be  annihilated  ? 
or  punished  in  any  manner  whatever  ?  As  well  might 
Adam  have  been  annihilated  an  hour  after  he  was 
created,  for  the  rebellion  of  Satan  before  the  world 
was  made.  Such  are  some  of  the  absurdities  of  this 
attempt  to  sustain  one  of  the  worst  features  of  Deism 
by  the  word  of  God. 

10.  This  doctrine  by  necessary  consequence  involves 
the  annihilation  of  all  the  fallen  angels.  Hence  this 
logical  result  of  the  doctrine  of  the  annihilation  of  the 
wicked,  is  frankly  avowed  by  at  least  one  of  the  ad- 
vocates of  the  latter  notion.  "The  universe  of  God," 
says  Mr.  Storrs,  "will  be  purified  not  only  from  sin, 
but  sinners."*  Again,  "  Christ  shall  destroy  the 
devil — his  person,  his  being;"  and  the  "mighty 
angels"  are  to  "utterly  perish,"  under  the  "tremen- 
dous" wrath  of  God.| 

But  how  is  this  to  be  done?  The  reason  assigned 
why  human  souls  do  not  survive  the  body,  is,  that 
they  are  a  part  of  the  body,  and  are  necessarily  dis- 
solved with  it.  But  how  with  the  fallen  angels  ?  Have 

*Six  Sermons,  p.  27.  f  Ibid.,  p.  334. 


SUPPOSED  ANNIHILATION  OF  THE  WICKED.       145 

they  bodies,  by  the  dissolution  of  which  they  can  be 
annihilated? 

But  we  have  dwelt  too  long  already  perhaps,  upon 
this  absurd  attempt  to  wed  some  of  the  cardinal  prin- 
ciples of  Deism,  to  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  the  re- 
surrection of  the  dead,  and  the  idea  of  future  rewards 
and  punishments.  "Doth  a  fountain  send  forth  at 
the  same  place  sweet  water  and  bitter?"  Can  the 
same  book,  which  teaches  from  beginning  to  end  that 
the  soul  of  man  is  immortal,  be  made  to  teach  that 
"death  is  an  eternal  sleep?"* 

Sad  were  the  life  we  may  part  with  to-morrow, 

If  tears  were  our  birthright,  and  death  were  our  end. 

And  it  were  quite  as  well  for  natural  death  to  be 
"  our  end,"  as  Deism  teaches,  as  for  us  to  become,  so  far 
as  the  body  is  concerned,  the  subjects  of  a  momentary 
life  by  resurrection,  merely  that  we  may  go  out  of 
being  forever ! 

*  The  motto  that  infidel  France  once  wrote  over  the  entrances  to  her 
grave-yards. 

10  C 


PART  SECOND. 

RATIONAL  EVIDENCES  OF  A  FUTURE  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

CHARACTER  AND  VALUE  OF  THE  RATIONAL  ARGUMENT. 

WE  have  thus  far  confined  our  inquiries  to  the 
teachings  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Let  us  now  turn 
our  attention  to  what  are  called  the  rational  evidences 
of  man's  immortality. 

I.  By  the  rational  evidences  of  a  future  life,  we 
mean  such  evidences  as  may  be  gathered  outside  of 
the  pages  of  Divine  Revelation,  by  reflection  upon  the 
facts  and  phenomena  of  the  natural  world;  the  rela- 
tions of  man  to  the  material  creation ;  the  powers  and 
susceptibilities  of  the  soul ;  and  the  various  phenomena 
of  life  and  death. 

"The  evidences  of  a  future  state,"  says  Dr.  Dick, 
"which  the  light  of  reason  affords,  though  not  so  clear 
and  decisive  as  those  which  are  derived  from  Divine 
Revelation,  are  worthy  of  the  serious  consideration 
of  every  one  in  whose  mind  the  least  doubt  remains 
on  this  important  subject.  The  conviction  they  are 
calculated  to  produce,  when  attentively  weighed,  is 
sufficient  to  leave  every  one  without  excuse  who 
trifles  with  the  concerns  of  his  future  destiny,  and 
overlooks  his  relations  to  the  eternal  world." 

147 


148  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

"Though  the  realities  of  a  future  world  are  not 
presented  directly  to  the  eye  of  sense,  yet  the  facul- 
ties with  which  man  is  endowed,  when  properly  ex- 
ercised on  all  the  physical  and  moral  scenes  which 
the  universe  displays,  are  sufficient  to  evince  the 
highest  degree  of  probability,  if  not  absolute  certainty, 
that  his  duration  and  his  sphere  of  action  are  not 
confined  to  the  narrow  limits  of  the  present  world, 
but  have  a  relation  to  a  future  and  immortal  ex- 
istence."* 

"I  am  not  sure,"  says  Dr.  Erskine  Mason,  "in 
these  days  of  physiological  research  and  philosophic 
pride,  that  it  is  a  waste  of  time  or  labor,  or  an  in- 
appropriate work  for  the  advocate  of  truth  to  ransack 
the  analogies  of  things,  to  trace  the  correspondence 
between  the  natural  and  the  spiritual,  if  for  no  other 
purpose  than  to  show  that  a  skepticism  as  to  *  the 
life  to  come '  has  no  warrant  whatever  in  any  of  the 
things  which  are  seen  and  known  as  yet."f 

II.  The  Author  of  the  Bible  is  the  author  of 
nature ;  hence  all  true  science  is  in  perfect  harmony 
with  revealed  religion.  And  the  fact  that  in  all  the 
researches  and  discoveries  of  modern  times,  nothing 
has  been  found  in  the  realm  of  nature  to  contradict 
any  portion  of  the  sacred  writings,  while  all  other 
ancient  writings  are  in  perpetual  conflict  with  modern 
science,  is  one  of  the  strongest  proofs  that  the  Bible 
is  from  God,  the  infinite  Creator  of  all  things.  So 
of  each  particular  truth  of  revelation:  if,  upon  its 
being  announced  every  fact  and  phenomena  of  nature 
is  in  harmony  with  it,  this  circumstance  of  itself 

*  Philosophy  of  a  Future  State,  Chapter  I. 

f  Sermon  on  the  Life  to  Come,  Pastor's  Legacy,  p.  190. 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    ARGUMENT.  149 

affords  a  presumptive  and  collateral  evidence  of  its 
truth. 

A  mysterious  murder  is  committed,  and  the  sup- 
posed criminal  is  arrested.  A  theory  of  the  murder 
is  set  forth  by  the  press,  or  by  the  states  attorney. 
If  that  theory  is  in  conflict  with  any  known  facts  in 
regard  to  the  supposed  criminal  or  his  victim,  such 
conflict  goes  far  to  discredit  the  theory ;  but  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  theory  is  in  harmony  with  and  ex- 
plains all  the  known  facts  of  the  case,  there  at  once 
arises  a  strong  presumption  of  the  truth  of  the 
theory. 

So  of  all  revealed  truth,  and  especially  of  the 
doctrine  of  a  future  state.  If  it  is  found  to  agree 
most  wonderfully  with  all  we  know  of  ourselves  or 
of  the  natural  world,  such  agreement  goes  far  to  cor- 
roborate the  doctrine,  and  to  strengthen  in  our  minds 
the  conviction  of  its  truth. 

III.  Two  errors,  we  think,  have  been  committed  in 
regard  to  the  nature  and  value  of  the  rational  evi- 
dences of  man's  immortality.  First,  we  deem  it  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  such  evidence  is  primary  ;  or 
in  other  words  that  it  could  be  discovered  or  under- 
stood at  all,  without  the  light  of  the  Bible  first  thrown 
upon  the  problem  of  our  being,  and  afterward  re- 
flected from  all  the  works  of  God.  Until  that  "star 
of  eternity  "  gilds  the  scene,  all  natural  intimations 
of  immortality  are  latent.  They  are  like  hiero- 
glyphics upon  the  walls  of  some  dark  cavern,  existing 
but  undecyphered,  till  the  darkness  of  ages  is  dis- 
persed by  the  flambeau  of  the  curious  traveler.  Then 
only  can  he  see  and  read  them. 

But  suppose  a  gorgeous  chandelier,  suspended  from 


150  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

the  ceiling  of  the  cavern,  had  been  burning  for  ages ; 
and  suppose,  as  in  some  of  the  mines  of  the  old  world, 
one  were  born  and  grew  up  there,  and  had  never 
seen  darkness.  How  natural  for  him  to  imagine,  as 
he  stood  with  his  back  to  the  central  luminary,  that 
he  was  not  dependent  upon  it  for  a  knowledge  of  the 
characters  before  him. 

So  with  the  Deist.  The  world  has  never  been 
without  revelation  of  some  sort.  The  lamp  from 
heaven  has  been  shining  upon  our  dark  world  for 
ages.  We  have  had  no  opportunity  to  ascertain  what 
we  could  or  could  not  have  done,  in  the  absence  of  its 
beams.  And  yet  the  Deist  says,  "Man  shall  live 
forever.  We  learn  it  from  nature,  independently  of 
all  aid  from  the  Bible."  Lord  Herbert,  the  apostle 
of  English  Deism,  who  affirmed  the  sufficiency  of 
reason  and  natural  religion,  and  rejected  the  Bible  as 
unnecessary  and  superfluous,  inserted  as  one  of  the 
five  principles  of  his  natural  creed  the  doctrine  of  a 
future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments. 

The  celebrated  Thomas  Paine  was  orthodox  so  far 
as  the  fact  of  another  state  of  existence  is  concerned. 
Hence  he  wrote,  "I  believe  in  one  God,  and  no  more, 
and  hope  for  happiness  beyond  this  life."*  This 
class  of  Deists  read  the  hieroglyphics  aright,  but 
ignored  the  light  without  which  they  could  never  have 
read  the  first  character. 

An  aged  and  otherwise  intelligent  Deist  once 
affirmed  in  the  hearing  of  the  writer,  that  he  was  in 
no  degree  indebted  to  the  Bible  for  a  knowledge  of 
God,  or  df  his  attributes ;  that  he  had  demonstrated 

*  This  passage  taken  from  his  "  Age  of  Reason,"  is  inscribed  upon 
his  monument  at  New  Roohelle,  N.  Y. 


CHARACTER   OF   THE   ARGUMENT.  151 

all  originally  for  himself,  without  aid  or  suggestion 
from  revelation.  When  asked  how  old  he  was  when 
he  made  the  discovery,  he  fixed  the  period  at  twelve 
years;  but  when  asked  where  he  had  lived  for  twelve 
years  without  ever  hearing  of  a  God,  he  was  con- 
founded. Neither  could  he  tell  how  it  was  that  he,  a 
boy  of  twelve  summers,  could  infer  the  being  of  one 
God,  infinite,  just,  and  unchangeable,  from  his  works, 
while  the  sages  of  antiquity,  with  all  their  vast 
mental  resources  and  discipline,  multiplied  their 
divinities  by  thousands,  and  invested  them  with 
every  hateful  attribute  and  passion  of  the  human 
heart. 

This,  then,  is  the  first  error,  we  should  rather  say 
abuse  of  the  rational  evidences  of  another  life — viz. 
to  magnify  them  unduly,  and  install  them  in  place  of 
that  only  "sure  word  of  prophecy,"  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures.* 

But  it  may  be  asked,  if  immortality  may  be  in- 
ferred from  reason  and  nature,  why  is  not  the  belief 
universal  ?  Why  were  the  sages  of  Greece  and  Rome 
in  doubt,  even  with  the  light  of  a  traditional  revela- 
tion to  aid  their  perceptions?  "I  hope,"  said  Soc- 
rates, "  I  am  now  going  to  good  men,  though  this  I 
would  not  take  upon  me  positively  to  affinn."f 
"Which  of  these  is  true,"  said  Cicero,  (referring  to 
the  two  theories  of  life  or  no  life  after  death)  God 
only  knows  ;  and  which  is  most  probable  a  very  great 

*  "  The  evidences  of  human  reason  in  favor  of  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  have  their  use ;  but  they  are  not  adapted  to  the  comprehension  of 
all.  Neither  can  they,  considered  separate  from  Divine  revelation,  im- 
part a  sure  hope  and  confidence." — Helffemtein's  Theology,  p.  371. 

f  Helffenstein's  Theology,  p.  15. 


152  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

question."  "When  I  read  I  assent;  but  when  1 
have  laid  down  the  book,  all  that  assent  vanishes." 
All  this  led  Seneca  to  say,  that  "Immortality,  how- 
ever desirable,  was  rather  promised  than  proved  by 
those  great  men." 

IV.  A  second  error,  in  our  opinion,  and  one  into 
which  not  a  few  writers  upon  the  subject  have  fallen, 
is  to  ignore  or  undervalue  the  testimony  of  reason 
and  nature  to  the  great  and  glorious  doctrine  of  Im- 
mortality.* Because  the  Deist  has  made  too  much  of 
them  ought  we  to  fly  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and 
make  too  little  of  them  ?     Will  it  disparage  revealed 
religion  for  us  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  nature,  whose 
echoes  have  been  first  awakened  by  the  voice  of  God 
from  heaven  ?     Shall  we  refuse  to  read  or  apply  the 
inscription  upon  the  wall,  lest  we  disparage  the  lamp 
by  which  we  read  it  ?     The  Bible  is  the  source  of  all 
true  knowledge  of  God  and  of  a  future  life.     Without 
it  there  would  be  no  startling  traditions,  no  "Natural 
Theology." 

But  while  we  thus  magnify  the  "lively  oracles," 
we  are  not  confined  to  them.  The  Deist  may  reject 
Revelation,  but  the  Christian  need  not,  therefore, 
reject  Nature.  We  are  as  welcome  to  all  her  "  testi- 
monies," as  is  the  most  ardent  disciple  of  "Natural 
Religion;"  and  we  study  them  with  a  Divine  inter- 
pretation ;  and  amid  a  celestial  radiance  against  which 
he  has  closed  his  eyes  for  ever. 

V.  The   Rational   Evidences   of    Immortality,    to 
which  attention  is  called  in  the  following  chapters,  is 
not  then  regarded  as  primary  and  independent,  but 
rather  as  evidences  made  available  by  Divine  Revela- 

*  Even  some  Christian  writers  have  fallen  into  this  error. 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    ARGUMENT.  153 

tion.  It  is  consequently  only  collateral  to  our  chief 
source  of  knowledge,  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  and  in- 
stead of  being  a  sufficient  guide  of  itself,  should  only 
be  regarded  as  corroborative  of  that  Book  which  brings 
life  and  immortality  to  light,  and  alone  is  able  to  make 
wise  unto  salvation.  Thus  the  Bible  shines  on,  peer- 
less in  the  moral  heavens,  while  the  Christian  believer 
exults  in  its  undimmed  brightness,  and  rejoices  amid 
scenes  of  beauty  and  grandeur  illumined  by  its  efful- 
gence. But  as  the  moon  is  made  conspicuous  and 
beautiful  by  the  light  of  the  sun,  so  all  nature  shines 
in  the  light  of  the  BIBLE,  and  thus  helps  to  light  up 
the  moral  universe,  by  reflecting  back  upon  the  human 
heart  and  understanding  its  celestial  beams.  Such 
•we  conceive  to  be  the  nature  of  the  argument  drawn 
from  reason  and  nature,  and  its  true  relation  to  the 
clearer  light  of  Divine  Revelation. 


154  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 


CHAPTER  II. 

INDICATIONS    OF    ANOTHER    LIFE    IN    THE    STRUCTURE 
AND    PHENOMENA    OF   THE   NATURAL   WORLD. 

Read  Nature ;  Nature  is  the  friend  of  truth  ; 
Nature  is  Christian ;  preaches  to  mankind, 
And  bids  dead  matter  aid  us  in  our  creed. 

I.  A  SQUADRON  of  ships  are  about  to  proceed  to 
sea,  or  to  engage  in  battle.  Upon  almost  every  ship 
may  be  seen  a  man  waving  a  small  red  and  white  flag 
in  various  directions.  It  may  be  noticed  by  a  lands- 
man, but  of  its  utility  and  design  he  is  utterly  igno- 
rant. Much  less  can  he  understand  the  import  or 
meaning  of  these  signal  flags  and  their  singular  move- 
ments. But  tell  him  that  these  men  with  flags  belong 
to  the  signal-corps  of  the  fleet ;  and  place  in  his  hands 
the  manual  which  explains  the  import  of  every  flag 
and  motion  ;  and  these  otherwise  unmeaning  signals 
become  as  intelligible  as  the  plainest  language ;  and 
are  invested  with  equal  power  to  inspire  courage,  en- 
kindle hope  or  fill  with  terror. 

So  in  regard  to  many  of  the  facts  and  phenomena 
of  material  existence.  In  the  absence  of  the  Bible, 
which  brings  life  and  immortality  to  light,  they  may 
seem  altogether  unintelligible  and  unmeaning  ;  when 
in  the  light  of  that  all-perfect  manual  of  creation, 


VARIOUS    NATURAL    PHENOMENA.  155 

every  important  natural  phenomenon  has  its  signifi- 
cance, and  the  whole  material  universe  responds  to 
the  glorious  announcement  that  man  shall  live  for- 
ever. 

II.  Suppose  man  placed  upon  our  planet  with  the 
constitution  and  phenomena  of  nature  as  they  now 
are.  Suppose  him  subject  to  death  as  at  present,  but 
with  no  intimation  from  any  source  that  his  brief  and 
sad  life  would  ever  be  renewed  or  prolonged  after 
death.  He  steps  upon  our  planet  amid  the  glory  of 
a  bright  spring-day,  with  no  instructer  and  no  expe- 
rience. He  has  never  seen  niglit  or  darkness,  and 
knows  nothing  of  them.  The  sun  is  on  the  meridian, 
and  for  ought  that  he  knows  to  the  contrary,  will  re- 
main there  forever.  In  a  short  time,  however,  he 
notices  that  the  shadows  of  objects  are  traveling 
around  to  the  eastward.  But  this  scarcely  awakens 
a  thought,  much  less  excites  alarm. 

A  few  hours  elapse  and  the  sun  is  fast  sinking  to- 
wards the  western  horizon ;  the  light  and  heat  are 
sensibly  diminished  ;  and  a  slight  foreboding  seizes  the 
mind  of  the  stranger.  Downward  still  sinks  the  orb  of 
day,  till  at  length  his  western  limb  reaches  the  hori- 
zon and  he  begins  to  disappear.  The  light  fades  from 
hill  and  vale  and  sea  and  sky,  till  all  nature  is  wrapped 
in  the  pall  of  darkness. 

But  as  the  sun  goes  down,  and  darkness  takes  the 
place  of  his  beams,  that  very  darkness  becomes  the 
revealer  of  a  scene  of  glory  in  the  heavens  above,  of 
which  the  stranger  had  before  no  conception,  and 
which  with  perpetual  daylight  had  never  greeted  mor- 
tal vision,  or  filled  the  human  mind  with  wonder  and 
amazement.  True,  the  beholder  is  surrounded  with 


156  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

darkness  and  gloom,  but  it  seems  only  ordained  be- 
cause needful,  to  extend  his  range  of  vision,  and  in- 
troduce him  early  to  a  knowledge  of  other  and  brighter, 
though  more  distant  worlds.  Here,  then,  is  the  first 
lesson  of  the  first  half  day  of  his  earthly  being. 
Darkness  is  needful  to  reveal  the  unnumbered 
and  far-off  glories  of  the  celestial  concave,  and  write 
it  on  the  physical  universe  that  the  fading  of  an  earth- 
ly glory  is  but  the  precursor  of  a  celestial  effulgence 
that  shall  not  grow  dim  with  passing  ages,  but  is  en- 
during as  the  pillars  of  heaven. 

Mysterious  Night !  when  our  first  parent  knew 

Thee,  from  report  divine,  and  heard  thy  name, 

Did  he  not  tremble  for  this  lovely  frame, 
This  glorious  canopy  of  light  and  blue  ? 
Yet,  'neath  a  curtain  of  translucent  dew, 

Bathed  in  the  rays  of  the  great  setting  flame, 

Hesperus  with  the  host  of  heaven  came ; 
And  lo  !  creation  widen'd  in  men's  view. 

Who  could  hare  thought  such  darkness  lay  conceal'd 
Within  thy  beams,  0  Sun  !  or  who  could  find, 

Whilst  fly,  and  leaf,  and  insect  stood  revealed, 
That  to  such  countless  orbs  thou  mad'st  us  blind? 

Why  do  we  then  shun  death  with  anxious  strife? 

If  light  can  thus  deceive  us,  may  not  life? 

The  night  rolls  on,  and  man,  the  stranger  just 
placed  amid  these  scenes,  is  left  to  his  own  reflections 
and  forebodings.  He  has  no  tutor  to  explain  to  him 
the  nature  of  the  change  that  has  taken  place  since 
he  stood  a  few  hours  before  amid  the  glories  of  noon- 
tide ;  and  no  experience  to  intimate  to  him  that  the 
surrounding  darkness  shall  ever  again  give  place  to 
the  light  of  day.  He  has  never  seen  a  sun-rising,  or 
heard  of  one.  To  him  the  going  down  of  the  sun 
was  the  death  of  nature,  and  he  has  no  hope  or  ground 


VARIOUS    NATURAL    H1KNOMLNA.  157 

of  hope  that  he  will  ever  rise  again.     All  is  darkness, 
sorrow  and  despair. 

But  lo !  as  he  bemoans  the  sad  phenomenon  that 
has  draped  the  world  in  mourning,  a  dim  light  is  seen 
in  the  eastern  sky.  More  and  more  brightly  it  shoots 
up  from  the  horizon  ;  the  gaze  of  the  stranger  is  fixed  ; 
his  heart  throbs  with  emotions  of  hope  and  fear ;  till 
at  length  he  beholds  the  hills  and  valleys  disrobed  of 
their  dark  vestments ;  and  clasps  his  hands  in  rap- 
ture as  he  sees  an  orb  of  fire  emerge  from  the  horizon, 
and  commence  its  journey  up  the  eastern  sky.  More- 
over, he  marks  how  fresh  and  beautiful  the  landscape 
appears ;  how  fragrant  the  flowers ;  how  sweet  the 
soogs  sent  up  from  every  grove,  as  if  to  welcome  the 
coming  day. 

Now  here  is  the  second  lesson  of  his  first  natural 
day  upon  the  earth — a  kind  of  death,  burial  and  re- 
surrection— a  lesson  that  may  quell  his  fears  amid 
all  coming  changes ;  that  may  apply  to  himself  as  well 
as  to  other  objects ;  and  should  at  least  assure  Irim 
that  the  disappearance  of  a  bright  object  from  view, 
and  the  reign  of  darkness  and  uncertainty,  affords  no 
proof  or  presumption,  even,  that  the  retiring  object  is 
lost,  or  will  not  still  pursue  its  path  of  glory  to  un- 
numbered ages.  Observation  and  experience  have 
taught  him  that 

The  star  that  sets 

Beyond  the  western  wave  is  not  extinct. 

It  brightens  in  another  hemisphere, 

And  gilds  another  evening  with  its  rays.          ^ 

We  do  not  affirm  that  Adam  and  Eve  so  interpre- 
ted these  natural  phenomena.  Our  theory  is  that 
they  could  not  so  understand  them  as  "  foregleams  of 


158  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

immortality"  without  first  having  communicated  to 
them  the  knowledge  of  another  life.  But  whether 
understood  or  not,  the  phenomena  remain  the  same  ; 
and  as  if  ordained  to  throw  light  upon  the  subject  of 
man's  descent  to  the  tomb,  warn  us  not  to  infer  ex- 
tinction from  retirement,  obscurity  and  darkness  ;  but 
rather  to  look  upward  for  the  stars  of  immortality 
when  life's  sun  goes  down ;  and  to  look,  though  the  night 
of  death  may  come,  for  a  bright  and  a  glorious  morning. 

III.  Suppose  further  that  when  man  was  first  placed 
upon  the  earth  the  moon  was  at  her  full — a  mild  and 
lovely  object  passing  nightly  through  the  heavens. 
As  the  sun  goes  down  in  the  west,  she  arises  in  se- 
rene majesty  in  the  east.  But  the  next  evening  r-he 
is  later  in  her  appearing,  and  when  at  length  visible 
is  sensibly  diminished  in  her  magnitude.  From  night 
to  night  she  lingers  more  and  more  behind  the  hour 
of  her  first  appearing,  and  contracts  more  and  more 
in  her  magnitude  till  finally  she  is  lost  amid  the  efful- 
gence of  the  sun,  and  disappears  entirely  from  view. 
For  ought  the  beholder  knows  to  the  contrary  she  has 
gone  to  her  fiery  sepulchre,  and  will  shine  upon  man 
and  his  abode  no  more  forever. 

But  wait  a  fortnight  and  that  now  dishonored, 
faded,  buried  celestial  object  will  have  re-asserted  all 
her  former  splendor,  and  may  be  seen  rising  in  the 
east,  as  at  the  first,  the  glorious  queen  of  night. 
Though  she  seemed  to  be  dead  and  lost,  she  emerges 
from  her  obscurity  to  shine  again  with  undimmed  ef- 
fulgence in  the  open  void  of  heaven.  Such  are  the 
lessons  of  the  first  month — a  celestial  orb  fading  and 
retiring  from  view,  but  anon  restored  again  to  its  ori- 
ginal life  and  grandeur. 


VARIOUS   NATURAL   PHENOMENA.  159 

IV.  But  our  pupil  arrived  and  took  his  place  here 
amid  all  the  sweetness  and  beauty  of  Spring.  Bright 
flowers  of  every  form  and  hue  greeted  his  vision  and 
filled  the  air  with  their  fragrance.  The  forests  and 
hills  were  clothed  with  their  vestments  of  green,  and 
not  an  object  of  sorrow  or  decay  greeted  his  vision 
throughout  all  the  realm  of  vegetable  life.  And  so 
far  as  he  knows  to  the  contrary  this  state  of  things  is 
as  unchangeable  as  the  throne  of  the  Creator. 

A  few  months  pass  and  the  flowers  have  faded ;  the 
forests  are  stripped  of  their  foliage ;  the  streams  are 
bound  in  icy  chains ;  the  hills  and  valleys  are  covered 
with  snow ;  and  death  reigns  over  the  whole  realm  of 
nature.  With  no  experience  and  no  one  to  tell  him 
that  this  is  but  a  pause  in  life,  to  be  succeeded  by 
new  vigor  and  beauty,  what  would  be  the  natural 
feelings  of  such  a  stranger  ?  How  certainly  would 
he  «aourn  the  loss  of  those  days  of  song,  and  bloom, 
and  brightness,  now  gone  to  return  no  more.  He 
has  never  seen  a  spring  open  on  the  land,  or  heard  of 
the  change  from  winter  to  spring ;  and  is  therefore 
left  a  prey  to  all  the  fears  and  forebodings  with  which 
the  death  of  every  leaf  and  flower  and  blade  of  grass 
would  necessarily  fill  his  mind  and  his  imagination. 

But  the  winter  rolls  on — the  brighter  suns  and 
warmer  breezes  of  spring  melt  the  snows  from  plain 
and  mountain  ;  the  buds  swell  and  expand  into  foliage  ; 
the  tender  grass  shoots  up  from  the  pastures ;  and 
again  all  nature  is  clad  in  robes  of  beauty,  and  her 
seeming  death  and  burial  give  place  to  the  most  joy- 
ful life  and  animation.  This  is  the  lesson  of  a  year — 
nature  fading,  dying,  buried,  and  nature  reviving, 
rising,  restored  to  her  wonted  animation  and  beauty. 


160  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

V.  A  few  weeks  of  observation  will  reveal  another 
not  altogether  insignificant  fact,  viz.,  that  in  a  certain 
sense  life  is  to  a  large  extent  evolved  from  death 
throughout  the  whole  realm  of  nature.    Living  animals 
are  sustained  in  life  by  food,  composed  of  dead  animals 
and  vegetables  ;  and  living  vegetation  in  turn  is  fed 
and  nourished  by  decayed  vegetable  and  animal  sub- 
stances.     Though  death  does  not   originate  life,  it 
sustains  it,  and  life  seems  to  spring  more  vigorously 
from  the  very  triumphs  of  death. 

Remote  as  this  fact  may  seem  from  the  subject 
under  discussion,  it  shows  at  least  the  intimate  rela- 
tion between  death  and  life  in  their  lower  types,  and 
may  therefore  be  cited  as  a  natural  intimation  that 
the  death  of  man  here  is  made  tributary,  in  the  wise 
economy  of  the  Creator,  to  a  higher  and  more  endur- 
ing life  hereafter. 

VI.  A  fiery  meteor  is  seen  throwing  his  long  train 
over  half  the  heavens.     It  is  in  view  when  the  stran- 
ger first  looks  up  at  the  celestial  concave.     But  in  a 
short  time  it  begins  to  retire  from  view,  and  at  length 
entirely  disappears.     Man  lives  on,  like  Methuselah, 
one  hundred,  two  hundred,  four  hundred  years,  but 
sees  nothing  more  of  the  strange  light  in  the  sky.    At 
length,  perhaps  after  centuries, 

Lo !  from  the  dread  immensity  of  space, 

Returning  with  accelerated  force, 
The  flaming  comet  to  the  sun  descends. 

Though  long  given  up  for  lost,  and  perhaps  for- 
gotten, he  too  stands  forth  again  among  the  living,  a 
bright  celestial  emblem  of  immortality. 

Such  are  a  few  of  the  intimations  of  a  future  state 
drawn  from  the  structure  and  phenomena  of  the 


VARIOUS   NATURAL   PHENOMENA.  161 

natural  world — witnesses  naturally  mute  to  us  be- 
cause we  fail  to  understand  their  language,  but  yet 
intelligible  and  important  when  consulted  in  the  light 
of  the  glorious  revealed  truth  that  the  spirit  of  man 
never  dies.  Then  each  star  that  glows  in  the  hea- 
vens when  the  sun  sinks  below  the  western  hills ;  each 
opening  day  when  the  gloom  of  night  is  past ;  each 
waxing  moon  emerging  from  her  obscuration ;  each 
opening  spring  bursting  every  wintry  chain  and 
tomb,  and  filling  all  nature  with  beauty  and  fragrance  ; 
each  long-lost  comet  returning  again  to  our  heavens 
after  an  absence  of  ages  ;  and  each  material  atom  that 
defies  annihilation — all  these  illustrate  and  corroborate 
the  glorious  truth  that  man  shall  live  on  immortal, 
despite  the  shadows  of  death,  and  the  hiding  of  his 
mortal  light  for  a  time  amid  the  dark  recesses  of  the 
grave.  We  know  they  are  but  the  alphabet  of  what 
we  need  to  know  of  death  and  the  world  to  come  ;  but 
they  afford  instruction  clear  and  cogent  to  this  one 
point,  that  we  be  not  deceived  by  appearances  to  re- 
gard any  thing  as  lost  or  extinct  that  becomes  robed 
in  darkness,  or  is  hidden  for  a  time  from  the  eyes  of 
mortals.  The  very  mechanism  of  nature  seems  to 
have  been  arranged  so  as  to  teach  and  reiterate  this 
great  lesson.  And  what  pupil  has  she  but  man  ?  To 
whom  shall  the  lesson  apply  if  not  to  him ;  and  to 
what  portion  of  his  allotment  on  earth  if  not  to  the 
solemn  period  when  the  light  of  his  mortal  life. shall 
fade,  and  his  sun  go  down  to  rise  no  more  on  earth  or 
time  ? 

Let,  then,  each   glowing   star,  and  rising  sun,  and 
full-orbed  moon,  and  opening  spring,  and  fiery  comet, 

yea  every  material  object  that   God  has  made  echo 
11 


162  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

and  re-echo  the  glorious  truth,  that  though  life's  brief 
day  will  soon  close,  and  the  darkness  of  the  tomb 
cover  us,  there  is  a  bright  and  glorious  day  beyond 
earth's  deepest  shadows  ;  and  the  life  we  now  live  is 
but  the  vestibule  of  Immortality. 


BELIEF  OF  ALL  NATIONS.          163 


CHAPTER  III. 

ARGUMENT  DRAWN  FROM  THE  GENERAL  BELIEF  OF 
MANKIND. 

THE  extent  to  which  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  has  prevailed  among  men,  in  all  ages  of 
the  world,  has  generally  been  regarded  as  furnishing 
a  strong  presumptive  proof  of  the  truth  of  that 
doctrine.  "When  we  discourse  of  the  eternity  of 
souls,"  says  Seneca,  "the  general  consent  of  all  men 
either  fearing  or  worshipping  the  hellish  powers,  is 
of  very  great  moment."  "In  every  thing,"  says 
Cicero,  "the  consent  of  all  nations  is  to  be  accounted 
the  law  of  nature,  and  to  resist  it,  is  to  resist  the 
voice  of  God." 

Though  few  Christian  writers  would  fully  endorse 
these  views,  especially  those  of  the  latter,  the  consent 
of  all  nations  to  the  doctrine  certainly  deserves  to  be 
noticed  among  the  rational  evidences  of  a  future 
state.  Let  us  then  consider  the  chief  points  in  the 
argument. 

I.  .That  the  idea  is  almost  co-extensive  with  the 
race  of  mankind,  will  scarcely  be  doubted.  No 
matter  what  other  opinions  may  enter  into  the  reli- 
gion of  any  people,  these  three  will  be  found  asso- 
ciated in  almost  every  system,  viz.,  the  existence  of  a 


164  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

Supreme  Being,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and 
future  rewards  and  punishments.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  origin  of  these  opinions,  the  fact  is  un- 
deniable, that  upon  these  points  all  nations  are  in 
the  main  agreed. 

"That  the  thinking  principle  in  man  is  of  an  im- 
mortal nature,"  says  Dr.  Dick,  "was  believed  by  the 
ancient  Egyptians,  the  Persians,  the  Phenicians,  the 
Scythians,  the  Celts,  the  Druids,  the  Assyrians — by  the 
wisest  and  most  celebrated  characters  among  the  Greeks 
and  Romans,  and  by  almost  every  other  ancient  nation 
and  tribe  whose  records  have  reached  our  times.  The 
notions,  indeed,  which  many  of  them  entertained  of 
the  scenes  of  futurity  were  very  obscure  and  imper- 
fect, but  they  all  embraced  the  idea,  that  death  is  not 
the  destruction  of  the  rational  soul,  but  only  its 
introduction  to  a  new  and  unknown  state  of  exist- 
ence." 

"The  ancient  Scythians  believed  that  death  was 
only  a  change  of  habitation;  and  the  Magian  sect, 
which  prevailed  in  Babylon,  Media,  Assyria,  and 
Persia,  admitted  the  doctrine  of  eternal  rewards  and 
punishments."* 

II.  "It  is  well  known,"  says  Dr.  Dick,  "that 
Plato,  Socrates,  and  other  Greek  philosophers,  held 
the  doctrine  of  the  soul's  immortality."  f 

In  his  admirable  dialogue,  entitled  "The  Phsedon," 
Plato  represents  Socrates,  a  little  before  his  death, 
encompassed  with  a  circle  of  philosophers,  and  dis- 

*  Philosophy  of  a  Future  State,  Book  1. 

f  This  is  no  doubt  true  in  a  general  sense,  though  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, as  elsewhere  shown,  that  they  hold  this  doctrine  with  a  measure 
of  doubt  and  uncertainty. 


BELIEF  OF  ALL  NATIONS.          165 

coursing  with  them  on  the  arguments  which  prove  the 
eternal  destiny  of  man.  "When  the  dead,"  says  he, 
"are  arrived  at  the  rendezvous  of  departed  souls, 
whither  their  angel  conducts  them,  they  are  all 
judged.  Those  who  have  passed  their  lives  in  a 
manner  neither  entirely  criminal,  nor  absolutely 
innocent,  are  sent  into  a  place  where  they  suffer  pains 
proportioned  to  their  faults,  till,  being  purged  and 
cleansed  of  their  guilt,  and  afterwards  restored  to 
liberty,  they  receive  the  reward  of  the  good  actions 
done  in  the  body.  Those  who  are  judged  to  be  in- 
curable, on  account  of  the  greatness  of  their  crimes, 
the  fatal  destiny  that  passes  judgment  upon  them, 
hurls  them  into  Tartarus,  from  whence  they  never 
depart. 

"Those  who  are  found  guilty  of  crimes,  great  in- 
deed, but  worthy  of  pardon,  who  have  committed 
violences,  in  the  transports  of  rage  against  their 
father  or  mother,  or  have  killed  some  "one  in  a  like 
emotion,  and  afterwards  repented — suffer  the  same 
punishment  with  the  lost,  but  for  a  time  only,  till,  by 
prayers  and  supplications,  they  have  obtained  pardon 
from  those  they  have  injured.  But  those  who  have 
passed  through  life  with  peculiar  sanctity  of  manners, 
are  received  on  high,  into  a  purer  region,  where  they 
live  without  their  bodies  to  all  eternity,  in  a  series 
of  joys  and  delights  which  cannot  be  described." 
III.  From  such  considerations  Socrates  concludes : 
"If  the  soul  be  immortal,  it  requires  to  be  culti- 
vated with  attention,  not  only  for  what  we  call  the 
time  of  life,  but  for  that  which  is  to  follow,  I  mean 
eternity ;  and  the  least  neglect  in  this  point  may  be 
attended  with  endless  consequences.  If  death  were 


166  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

the  final  extinction  of  being,  the  wicked  would  be 
great  gainers  by  it,  by  being  delivered  at  once  from 
their  bodies,  their  souls,  and  their  vices ;  but  as  the 
soul  is  immortal,  it  has  no  other  means  of  being  freed 
from  its  evils,  nor  any  safety  for  it,  but  in  becoming 
very  good  and  very  wise;  for  it  carries  nothing  with 
it,  but  its  good  or  bad  deeds,  its  virtues  and  vices, 
which  are  commonly  the  consequences  of  the  educa- 
tion it  has  received,  and  the  causes  of  eternal  happi- 
ness or  misery." 

The  following  additional  extract  from  the  same 
dialogue,  is  perhaps  still  more  pertinent. 

Socrates.  "Answer  me;  what  is  that  which,  when 
in  the  body  makes  it  alive?" 

Kebes.  "The  soul." 

S.  "Will  it  always  be  so?" 

K.  "How  can  it  be  otherwise?" 

S.  "Will  the  soul,  then,  always  bring  life  to  what- 
ever it  occupies?" 

K.  "Certainly." 

S.  "Is  there  anything  contrary  to  life,  or  nothing?" 

K.  "There  is." 

8.  "What?" 

K.  "Death." 

S.  "Will  the  soul  receive  the  contrary  to  what  it 
introduces?" 

K.  "By  no  means." 

8.  "But  what  do  we  call  that  which  does  not  re- 
ceive death?" 

K.  "Immortal." 

8.  "The  soul  will  not  receive  death,  you  say?" 

K.  "No." 

8.  "Is  the  soul,  then,  immortal?" 


BELIEF  OF  ALL  NATIONS.          167 

K.  "It  is  immortal." 

S.  "When,  therefore,  death  comes  upon  man,  what 
is  mortal  in  him  perishes,  as  it  is  seen  to  do;  but 
what  is  immortal  withdraws  itself  from  death,  safe  and 
uncorrupted?" 

K.  "This  is  clear." 

S.  "  We  may,  then,  be  sure  that,  more  than  all 
things,  0  Kebes !  the  soul  is  immortal  and  incor- 
ruptible, and  that  our  souls  will  still  be  in  existence 
in  Hades."  * 

"  Having  held  such  discourse  with  his  friends, 
he  kept  silence  for  some  time,  and  then  drank  off 
the  whole  of  the  poisonous  draught,  which  had  been 
put  into  his  hand,  with  amazing  tranquility,  and  an 
inexpressible  serenity  of  aspect,  as  one  who  was 
about  to  exchange  a  short  and  wretched  life,  for  a 
blessed  and  eternal  existence." 

When  Cato  found  it  in  vain  to  attempt  to  animate 
his  soldiers  against  Caesar,  he  resolved  to  die  by  his 
own  hand.  After  supping  cheerfully  as  usual,  he  re- 
tired to  his  bed-chamber  and  read  over  this  dialogue 
of  Plato  upon  the  soul's  immortality  two  or  three 
times,  and  then  committed  the  crime  of  self-destruc- 
tion by  which  he  has  blackened  his  character  for  all 
coming  time.  But  the  reading  of  the  dialogue  under 
such  circumstances  shows  if  not  a  belief  in,  at  least  a 
desire  to  be  assured  of  an  immortal  existence  after 
death. 

In  Cicero  De  Senectute  he  puts  the  following  lan- 
guage into  the  mouth  of  Cato  : 

"  Oh  happy  day  when  I  shall  quit  this  impure  and 
corrupt  multitude  and  join  myself  to  that  divine  com- 

*  Turner's  Sacred  History,  Vol.  I.  p.  102. 


168  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

pany  and  council  of  souls  who  have  quitted  the  earth 
before  ine.  There  I  shall  find  not  only  those  illustri- 
ous personages  to  whom  I  have  spoken,  but  also  my 
Cato,  who  I  can  say  was  one  of  the  best  men  ever 
born  and  whom  none  ever  excelled  in  virtue  and  piety. 
I  have  placed  his  body  on  this  funeral  pile  whereon 
he  ought  to  have  laid  mine.  But  his  soul  has  not  left 
me,  and  without  losing  sight  of  me  he  has  only  gone  be- 
fore, into  a  country  where  he  saw  I  should  rejoin  him. 
This,  my  lot,  I  seem  to  bear  courageously ;  not  indeed 
that  I  do  bear  it  with  resignation  ;  but  I  shall  com- 
fort myself  with  the  persuasion  that  the  interval  be- 
tween his  departure  and  mine  will  not  be  long."* 

IV.  Plato  tells  us  of  an  ancient  law  concerning  men 
which  was  always  and  is  still  in  force  among  the  gods, 
that  those  who  lived  just  and  holy  lives  should  after 
their  death  go  into  the  isles  of  the  blessed,  where  they 
should  enjoy  all  manner  of  happiness  without  the 
least  intermixture  of  misery ;  but  that  those  who 
lived  here  unjustly  and  ungodly  should  be  sent  into 
that  prison  of  just  punishment  which  is  called  Hell."f 

The  apostrophe  of  the  Roman  Emperor,  Adrian, 
to  his  soul,  is  also  equally  in  point : — 

"  Poor,  little,  pretty,  fluttering  thing, 
Must  we  no  longer  live  together  ? 
And  dost  thou  prune  thy  trembling  wing, 

To  take  thy  flight,  thou  know'st  not  whither  ? 

"  Thy  pleasing  vein,  thy  humorous  folly, 

Lies  all  neglected,  all  forgot ! 
And  pensive,  wavering  melancholy, 

Thou  hop'st  and  fear'st  thou  know'st  not  what." 

*  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  on  2  Samuel  xiii.  33. 
f  Plat.  Geor.  p.  311. 


BELIEF   OF   ALL   NATI  169 

The  descriptions  and  allusions,  contained  in  the 
writings  of  the  ancient  poets,  are  a  convincing  proof 
that  the  notion  of  the  soul's  immortality  was  a  uni- 
versal opinion  in  the  times  in  which  they  wrote,  and 
among  the  nations  to  whom  their  writings  were  ad- 
dressed. 

Homer,  the  oldest  and  greatest  of  the  Greek  poets, 
who  lived  and  wrote  about  the  time  of  Solomon — suy 
a  thousand  years  before  Christ — embodies  the  doctrine 
of  the  soul's  immortality  both  in  the  Iliad  and  the 
Odyssey.  Indeed  it  is  the  first  doctrine  that  arrests 

t7  t7 

attention  at  the  very  commencement  of  the  Iliad. 

Achilles'  wrath,  to  Greece  the  direful  spring, 
Of  woes  unnumbered,  heavenly  goddess  sing  ; 
That  wrath  which  hurled  to  Pluto's  gloomy  reign 
The  souls  of  mighty  chiefs  untimely  slain ; 
Whose  limbs  unburied  on  the  naked  shore, 
Devouring  dogs  and  hungry  vultures  tore.* 

Nothing  could  be  plainer  than  that  this  extract 
teaches  the  true  nature  of  death — that  it  is  a  separa- 
tion of  the  soul  from  the  body — and  that  the  soul  is 
immaterial  and  immortal. 

His  account  of  the  descent  of  Ulysses  into  hell, 
and  his  description  of  Minos  in  the  shades  below,  dis- 
tributing justice  to  the  dead  assembled  in  troops 
around  his  tribunal,  and  pronouncing  irrevocable  judg- 
ment, which  decides  their  everlasting  fate,  demonstrate 
that  they  entertained  the  belief  that  virtues  are  re- 
warded and  that  crimes  are  punished  in  another  state 
of  existence. 

"  The  poems  of  Ovid  and  Virgil  contain  a  variety 
of  descriptions,  in  which  the  same  opinions  are  in- 

*  Pope's  translation  of  the  Iliad,  Book  1,  v.  1-6. 


170  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

volved.  Their  notions  of  future  punishment  are  set 
forth  in  the  descriptions  they  give  of  Ixion,  who  was 
fastened  to  a  wheel,  and  whirled  about  continually 
with  a  swift  and  rapid  motion — of  Tantalus,  who  for 
the  loathsome  banquet  he  made  for  the  gods,  was  set 
in  water  up  to  the  chin,  with  apples  hanging  to  his 
very  lips,  yet  had  no  power  either  to  stoop  to  quench 
his  raging  thirst,  or  to  reach  to  the  other  to  satisfy 
his  craving  appetite — of  the  Fifty  Daughters  of  Da~ 
naus,  who  for  the  barbarous  massacre  of  their  hus- 
bands in  one  night,  were  condemned  in  hell  to  fill  a 
barrel  full  of  holes  with  water,  which  ran  out  as  fast 
as  it  was  filled — of  Sisyphus,  who,  for  his  robberies, 
was  set  to  roll  a  great  stone  up  a  steep  hill,  which, 
when  it  was  just  at  the  top,  suddenly  fell  down  again, 
and  so  renewed  his  labor — and  of  Tityus,  who  was 
adjudged  to  have  a  vulture  to  feed  upon  his  liver  and 
entrails,  which  still  grew  and  increased  as  they  were 
devoured." 

"  Their  notions  of  future  happiness  are  embodied 
in  the  descriptions  they  have  given  of  the  Hesperian 
gardens,  and  the  Elysian  fields,  where  the  souls  of 
the  virtuous  rest  secure  from  every  danger,  and  enjoy 
perpetual  and  uninterrupted  bliss." 

Pindar,  the  prince  of  lyric  poets,  wrote  about  four 
hundred  years  before  Christ.  The  following  transla- 
tion of  his  Second  Ode,  will  illustrate  the  theology  of 
the  Greeks  touching  a  future  state,  at  the  time  it  was 
written. 

TRANSLATION    OF    PINDAR'S    SECOND    ODE. 

The  islands  of  the  blest  they  say, 

The  islands  of  the  blest 
Are  peaceful  and  happy  by  night  and  day 

Far  away  in  the  glorious  wo.-it. 


BELIEF  OF  ALL  NATIONS.          171 

They  need  not  the  moon  in  that  land  of  delight, 

They  need  not  the  pale,  pale  star; 
The  sun  he  is  bright  by  day  and  night, 

Where  the  souls  of  the  blessed  are. 

They  till  not  the  ground,  they  plough  not  the  wave, 

They  labor  not — never  !  oh,  never  ! 
Not  a  tear  do  they  shed,  not  a  sigh  do  they  heave, 

They  are  happy  forever  and  ever. 

Soft  is  the  breeze,  like  the  evening  one, 

When  the  sun  hath  gone  to  his  rest  ; 
And  the  sky  is  pure,  and  the  clouds  there  are  none, 

In  the  islands  of  the  blest. 

The  deep,  clear  sea,  in  its  mazy  bed, 

Doth  garlands  of  gems  unfold ; 
Not  a  tree  but  it  blazes  with  crowns  for  the  dead, 

Even  flowers  of  living  gold.* 

Such  were  the  views  held  by  the  ancients  in  regard 
to  a  future  life,  and  the  conscious  happiness  or  misery 
of  souls  in  the  world  to  come. 

That  the  original  idea  of  another  life  after  death 
was  matter  of  direct  revelation  from  God,  communi- 
cated to  Adam  and  Eve,  and  confirmed  to  others  after 
them,  is  no  doubt  true ;  but  the  idea  being  in  the 
world,  however  obscured  or  distorted  in  its  traditional 
progress  from  age  to  age,  men  were  enabled  to  reason 
upon  its  probable  truth  or  otherwise,  and  compare  the 
supposition  with  the  facts  and  phenomena  of  the  mind 
and  of  the  natural  world  around  them.  Hence  the 
general  impression  among  the  ancients  that  the  soul 
survives  the  dissolution  of  the  body.  "  Right  rea- 
son," saitF  Osterwald,  more  than  a  century  ago,  "in- 
forms us  that  the  soul  is  of  a  substance  entirely  diffe- 
rent from  the  body,  and  not  liable  to  corruption ; 

*  Cambridge  University  Magazine. 


172  THE   IMMORTALITY   OP    THE    SOUL. 

hence  the  very  Heathen  believe  in  the  immortality  of 
the  soul."* 

VI.  And  as  the  nations  of  antiquity  recognized  the 
doctrine  of  a  future  state  of  existence,  so  there  is 
scarcely  a  nation  or  tribe  of  mankind,  presently  ex- 
isting, however  barbarous  and  untutored,  in  which  the 
same  opinion  does  not  prevail. 

"  The  natives  of  the  Society  Isles  believe  that  after 
death  there  is  not  only  a  state  of  conscious  existence, 
but  degrees  of  eminence  and  felicity,  according  as 
men  have  been  more  or  less  pleasing  to  the  Eatova, 
or  Deity,  while  upon  earth." 

"  The  chiefs  of  the  Friendly  Islands  believe  in  'the 
immortality  of  their  souls,  which  at  death,  they  say,  is 
immediately  convey'ed  in  a  fast-sailing  canoe,  to  a 
distant  country  called  Doobludha,  which  they  describe 
as  resembling  the  Mahometan  paradise, — that  those 
who  are  conveyed  thither  are  no  more  subject  to  death, 
but  feast  on  all  the  favourite  productions  of  their 
native  soil,  with  which  this  blissful  abode  is  plenti- 
fully furnished." 

"  The  New  Zealanders  believe,  that  the  third  day 
after  the  interment  •  of  a  man,  the  heart  separates 
itself  from  the  corpse,  and  that  this  separation  is  an- 
nounced by  a  general  breeze  of  wind,  which  gives 
warning  of  its  approach,  by  an  inferior  divinity  that 
hovers  over  the  grave,  and  who  carries  it  to  the  clouds. 
They  believe  that  the  soul  of  the  man  whose  flesh  is 
devoured  by  the  enemy,  is  doomed  to  a  perpetual  fire, 
while  the  soul  of  the  man  whose  body  has%een  res- 

*  John  Frederick  Osterwald  was  a  celebrated  divine  of  Switzerland, 
who  died  in  1741.  See  Compendium  of  Christian  Theology,  translated 
from  the  Latin  by  Rev.  John  McMains,  1788. 


BELIEF  OF  ALL  NATIONS.          173 

cued  from  those  that  killed  him,  and  the  souls  of  all 
who  die  a  natural  death,  ascend  to  the  habitations  of 
the  gods." 

"  The  inhabitants  of  the  Pelew  Islands,  according 
to  the  account  of  Captain  Wilson,  although  they  have 
few  religious  rites  and  ceremonies,  believe  in  one 
Supreme  Being,  and  in  a  future  state  of  rewards  and 
punishments." 

"  In  the  religion  of  the  Kalmuc  Tartar  s,  the  doc- 
trine of  a  future  state  holds  a  conspicuous  place. 
They  believe  that  hell  is  situated  in  the  middle  region, 
between  heaven  and  earth,  and  their  devils  are  repre- 
sented with  all  sorts  of  frightful  forms  of  a  black  and 
hideous  aspect,  with  the  heads  of  goats,  lions,  and 
unicorns.  Their  holy  Lamas,  who  have  obtained  a 
victory  over  all  their  passions,  are  supposed  to  pass 
immediately  into  heaven,  where  they  enjoy  perfect 
rest,  and  exercise  in  divine  service." 

"  The  Samoiedians  of  northern  Tartary  believe,  that 
there  is  one  Supreme  Being,  that  he  is  our  all-merci- 
ful and  common  Parent,  and  that  he  will  reward  with 
a  happy  state  hereafter,  those  who  live  virtuously  in 
this  world." 

"  The  Birmans  believe  in  the  transmigration  of 
souls,  after  which  they  maintain,  that  the  radically 
bad  will  be  sentenced  to  lasting  punishment,  while  the 
good  will  enjoy  eternal  happiness  on  a  mountain 
called  Meru." 

"The  various  tribes  which  inhabit  the  continent  of 
Africa,  in  so  far  as  we  are  acquainted  with  their 
religious  opinions,  appear  to  recognize  the  doctrine 
of  a  future  state.  *  *  *  The  inhabitants  of  the  inte- 
rior, according  to  the  account  of  Mr.  Park,  believe  in 


174  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

one  Supreme  Ruler,  and  expect  hereafter  to  enter 
into  a  state  of  misery  or  felicity.  The  G-allas  of 
Abyssinia,  though  they  reject  the  doctrine  of  future 
punishment,  admit  the  reality  of  a  future  state.  The 
Mandingoes,  the  Jaloffs,  the  Feloops,  the  Foulahs, 
the  Moors,  and  all  other  tribes  who  have  embraced 
the  Mahometan  faith,  recognize  the  doctrine  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  and  of  future  rewards  in  a 
celestial  paradise." 

"  The  natives  of  Dahomey  entertain  the  same  belief; 
and  hence,  it  is  a  common  practice  with  the  sovereign 
of  that  country,  to  send  an  account  to  his  forefathers 
of  any  remarkable  event,  by  delivering  a  message  to 
whoever  may  happen  to  be  near  him  at  the  time,  and 
then  ordering  his  head  to  be  chopped  off  immediately, 
that  he  may  serve  as  a  courier,  to  convey  intelligence 
to  the  world  of  spirits."* 

"  The  Persians  are  said  to  leave  one  part  of  their 
graves  open,  from  a  belief  that  the  dead  will  be  re- 
animated, and  visited  by  angels,  who  will  appoint 
them  to  their  appropriate  abode  in  a  future  state. 
From  a  similar  belief,  thousands  of  Hindoo  widows 
annually  sacrifice  themselves  on  the  funeral  piles  of 
their  deceased  husbands,  in  the  hope  of  enjoying  with 
them  the  felicities  of  eternal  life."f 

"  The  Japanese  believe  that  the  souls  of  men  and 
beasts  are  alike  immortal ;  that  a  just  distribution  of 
rewards  and  punishments  takes  place  after  death ; 
that  there  are  different  degrees  of  happiness  as  well 

*  M'Leod's  Voyage  to  Africa,  1820,  p.  64. 

f  This  was  no  doubt  true  in  1827,  when  Dr.  Dick  wrote,  but  the 
suttee  has  since  been  abolished  over  all  that  country.  But  this  in  no 
wi-e  affects  the  argument. 


BELIEF    OF    ALL    NAT1  175 

as  of  punishment,  and  that  the  souls  of  the  wicked 
transmigrate,  after  death,  into  the  bodies  of  animals, 
and  at  last,  in  case  of  amendment,  are  translated 
back  again  into  the  human  form."* 

"  From  a  conviction  of  the  reality  of  a  future 
world,  the  Wahabbe  Arabs  regard  it  as  impious  to 
mourn  for  the  dead,  who,  they  say,  are  enjoying 
felicity  with  Mahomet  in  paradise ;  and  the  Javanese 
make  several  feasts,  on  the  decease  of  their  friends 
and  relations,  to  commemorate  their  entrance  into  a 
world  of  bliss." 

"  The  ancient  Scandinavians  taught  that  the  brave 
were  to  revel  forever  in  the  halls  of  Valhalla,  and 
drink  mead  offered  them  by  maidens,  from  the  skulls 
of  their  enemies.  Some  of  the  Pagan  Arabs  said, 
that  of  the  blood  near  the  brain  a  bird  was  formed, 
which  once  in  a  century  visited  the  sepulchre ;  and 
others  believed  in  a  resurrection. 

"  The  Patagonians  in  mentioning  the  dead,  call 
them  those  who  are  with  God,  and  out  of  the  world. 
The  Tongo  people  suppose  the  souls  of  their  dead 
chiefs  to  be  in  a  delightful  island  of  shadows.  The 
Yucatanese  represent  the  abode  of  the  good  as  a  plea- 
sant land  of  plenty,  under  the  shade  of  a  mighty 
tree. 

The  first  natives  of  this  continent  seen  by  the 
Spaniards,  taught  that  the  souls  of  good  men  went  to 
a  pleasant  valley,  where  all  kinds  of  fruit  were  abun- 
dant ;  and  that  the  de?d  walked  abroad  in  the  night, 
and  feasted  with  the  living.  Charlevoix  says,  that 
the  Indians  paid  a  great  regard  to  dreams,  as  em- 
bracing an  intercourse  with  spirits.  They  imagined 

*  Thuntierg's  Travels. 


176  THE    IMMORTALITY   OP   THE    SOUL. 

a  paradise  in  the  West,  a  land  where  nature  glowed 
with  an  eternal  sunset. 

"  The  ancient  Mexicans  supposed  three  places  for 
the  departed:  the  house  of  sun,  for  such  as  fell  in 
battle,  or  died  captives,  and  women  who  perished  in 
childhood ;  the  place  of  the  god  of  water  for  the 
drowned,  for  children,  and  for  those  who  died  of 
dropsy,  tumors,  and  similar  diseases,  or  of  accidental 
wounds ;  and  the  place  of  darkness,  in  the  centre  of 
the  earth." 

To  these  very  ample  testimonies  we  may  add  that 
of  our  own  native  Indians,  who  uniformly  believe  in 
an  immortal  existence  after  death,  in  the  celestial 
hunting  grounds — the  beautiful  islands — where  deer, 
and  buffalo  without  number  graze  on  the  hills  and 
through  the  valleys — where  the  good  are  always  suc- 
cessful in  the  chase,  and  the  wicked  ever  pursue  in 
vain.  To  this  "better  country"  they  believe  the 
Great  Spirit  will  conduct  them  at  the  close  of  life. 
Hence  their  bow  and  arrows  are  often  deposited  with 
their  bodies,  that  they  may  have  them  to  use  in  the 
spirit  world. 

"  The  Chickasaws  believed  that  the  souls  of  red 
men  walked  up  and  down  near  the  place  where  they 
died,  or  were  laid  ;  and  said  that  they  had  often  heard 
cries  and  noises  where  prisoners  had  been  burned. 
The  Indians  of  Cumana  supposed  echo  to  be  the 
voice  of  the  departed. 

Lo    the    poor  Indian  whose  untutored  mind, 
Sees  God  in  clouds,  or  hears  him  in  the  wind, 
Whose  soul  proud  science  never  taught  to  stray, 
Beyond  the  solar  walk  or  milky  way — 
Yet  simple  nature  to  his  hope  has  given, 
Beyond  the  cloud-topped  hill,  an  humble  heaven  ; 


BELIEF  OF  ALL  NATIONS.          177 

Some  safer  world  in  depth  of  woods  embraced, 
Some  happier  island  in  the  watery  waste, 
Where  slaves  once  more  their  native  land  behold, 
No  fiends  torment,  no  Christians  thirst  for  gold, — 
And  thinks,  admitted  to  yon  equal  sky, 
His  faithful  dog  shall  bear  him  company. 

"Thus  it  appears,  that  not  only  the  philosophers 
of  antiquity,  and  the  most  civilized  nations  presently 
existing  on  the  globe,  have  recognized  the  doctrine 
of  the  immortality  of  man,  hut  that  even  the  most 
savage  and  untutored  tribes  fortify  their  minds  in  the 
prospect  of  death,  with  the  hope  of  a  happiness  com- 
mensurate with  their  desires,  in  the  regions  beyond 
the  grave.  Among  the  numerous  and  diversified 
tribes  that  are  scattered  over  the  different  regions 
of  the  earth,  that  agree  in  scarcely  any  other  senti- 
ment or  article  of  religious  belief,  we  here  find  the 
most  perfect  harmony  in  their  recognition  of  a 
Supreme  Intelligence,  and  in  their  belief  that  the 
soul  survives  the  dissolution  of  its  mortal  frame. 
And,  as  Cicero  long  since  observed,  'In  everything 
the  consent  of  all  nations  is  to  be  accounted  the  law 
of  nature,  and  to  resist  it,  is  to  resist  the  voice  of 
God.'  For  we  can  scarcely  suppose,  in  consistency 
with  the  divine  perfections,  that  an  error,  on  a 
subject  of  so  vast  importance  to  mankind,  should 
obtain  the  universal  belief  of  all  nations  and  ages, 

O        " 

and  that  God  himself  would  suffer  a  world  of  rational 
beings,  throughout  every  generation,  to  be  carried 
away  by  a  delusion,  and  to  be  tantalized  by  a  hope 
which  has  no  foundation  in  nature,  and  which  is  con- 
trary to  the  plan  of  his  moral  government." 

VII.   "To  whatever  cause  this  universal  belief  of  a 
future  existence  is  to  be  traced — whether  to  a  uni- 
12 


178  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

versal  tradition  derived  from  the  first  parents  of  the 
human  race;  to  an  innate  sentiment  originally  im- 
pressed on  the  soul  of  man;  to  a  Divine  revelation 
disseminated  and  handed  down  from  one  generation 
to  another,  or  to  the  deductions  of  human  reason — it 
forms  a  strong  presumption,  and  a  powerful  argu- 
ment, in  favor  of  the  position  we  are  now  endeavor- 
ing to  support.  If  it  is  to  be  traced  back  to  the 
original  progenitors  of  mankind,  it  must  be  regarded 
as  one  of  those  truths  which  were  recognized  by  man 
in  a  state  of  innocence,  when  his  affections  were  pure, 
and  his  understanding  fortified  against  delusion  and 
error.  If  it  be  a  sentiment  which  was  originally  im- 
pressed on  the  human  soul  by  the  hand  of  its  Creator, 
we  do  violence  to  the  law  of  our  nature,  when  we 
disregard  its  intimations,  or  attempt  to  resist  the  force 
of  its  evidence.  If  it  ought  to  be  considered  as 
originally  derived  from  Revelation,  then  it  is  corrobo- 
rative of  the  truth  of  the  Sacred  Records,  in  which 
'life  and  immortality '  are  clearly  exhibited.  And, 
if  it  be  regarded  as  likewise  one  of  the  deductions 
of  natural  reason,  we  are  left  without  excuse,  if  we 
attempt  to  obscure  its  evidence,  or  to  overlook  the 
important  consequences  which  it  involves. 

"As  the  consent  of  all  nations  has  been  generally 
considered  as  a  powerful  argument  for  the  existence 
of  a  Deity,  so  the  universal  belief  of  mankind  in  the 
doctrine  of  a  future  state  ought  to  be  viewed  as  a 
strong  presumption,  that  it  is  founded  upon  truth. 
The  human  mind  is  so  constituted,  that  when  left  to 
its  native  unbiassed  energies,  it  necessarily  infers  the 
existence  of  a  Supreme  Intelligence,  from  the  exist- 
ence of  matter,  and  the  economy  of  the  material 


BELIEF   OF   ALL   NATIONS.  179 

world ;  and,  from  the  nature  of  the  human  faculties, 
and  the  moral  attributes  of  God,  it  is  almost  as  in- 
fallibly led  to  conclude,  that  a  future  existence  is 
necessary,  in  order  to  gratify  the  boundless  desires 
of  the  human  soul,  and  to  indicate  the  wisdom  and 
rectitude  of  the  moral  Governor  of  the  world. 

"These  two  grand  truths,  which  constitute  the 
foundation  of  all  religion,  and  of  everything  that  is 
interesting  to  man  as  an  intelligent  agent,  are  inter- 
woven with  the  theological  creed  of  all  nations;  and 
in  almost  every  instance,  where  the  one  is  called  in 
question,  the  other  is  undermined  or  denied :  so 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  man  may 
be  considered  as  resting  on  the  same  foundation  as 
the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Intelligence."* 

We  have  quoted  thus  largely  from  Dr.  Dick  in  the 
present  chapter,  not  that  the  argument  is  original 
with  him,  or  because  the  main  statement  with  which 
this  chapter  commences,  needed  to  be  thus  fortified  in 
order  to  be  credited  by  the  well-informed  and  candid 
reader;  but  rather  because  of  the  amount  of  testi- 
mony condensed  into  a  small  compass,  and  as  a 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  one  who  while  on  earth 
treated  with  a  master's  hand  the  glorious  theme  of 
immortal  existence  after  death. 

*  Philosophy  of  a  Future  State,  Part  I.  Chap.  I. 


180  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   RELATION   OF   MAN   TO   THE   LOWER   ANIMALS. 

Stupendous  link  in  Nature's  endless  chain 
Midway  from  nothing  to  the  Deity. 

THE  relation  of  the  different  species  of  animals  to 
each  other,  and  of  man  to  the  whole,  affords  a  strong 
presumption  that  though  allied  to  them  by  his  animal 
nature,  he  has  also  a  higher  and  spiritual  nature,  by 
which  he  is  also  allied  to  superior  beings  in  the  great 
chain  of  intellectual  existence. 

I.  If  we  look  abroad  over  the  vast  field  of  animal 
creation,  we  shall  find  that  no  species  stands  alone, 
or  isolated  from  its  fellows  of  other  species;  but  that 
all  are  related  by  resemblances  more  or  less  striking, 
and  linked  together  in  one  grand  chain,  from  the 
lowest  forms  of  unorganized  matter,  up  to  the  most 
perfect  of  all  organization,  the  human  body. 

The  oyster,  with  only  the  senses  of  taste  and  feel- 
ing at  most,  seems  to  link  the  animal  world  to  the 
mineral.  The  polypi — half  vegetable  and  half  animal 
— link  together  these  two  kingdoms.  The  bat  unites 
the  birds  and  the  quadrupeds;  and  the  flying-fish  the 
birds  and  the  fish. 

"The  bat,  the  flying-squirrel,  the  flying-opossum, 
are  instances  of  animals  of  the  class  mammalia,  ap- 


MAX'S  RELATION  TO  THE  LOWER  ANIMALS.       181 

proximating  to  that  of  birds  in  the  possession  of 
\vings,  or  organs  resembling  them,  whilst  the  orni- 
thorhynchus  resembles  them  in  the  structure  of  its 
mouth,  and  its  mode  of  producing  its  young  by 


On  the  other  hand,  the  ostrich,  the  cassowary,  and 
the  dodo,  which  have  wings  so  short  as  to  be  incapa- 
ble of  flying,  and  therefore  always  run  or  walk,  are 
instances  of  birds  approaching,  in  some  degree,  to 
the  character  of  quadrupeds.  So,  too,  the  cetaceous 
tribe  affords  an  example  of  the  transition  from 
mammalia  to  fishes;  the  flying-fish,  of  the  transition 
from  birds  to  fishes ;  the  dragons  of  that  from  birds 
to  reptiles."  * 

Thus  through  all  the  realm  of  nature,  each  inferior 
tribe  is  linked  to  the  next  above ;  and  the  link  by 
which  they  are  united  shares  the  natures  of  both  the 
superior  and  the  inferior  races.  Indeed,  nature  is 
one  grand  chain,  from  the  crudest  forms  of  unorgan- 
ized matter,  through  the  whole  vegetable  and  animal 
kingdoms,  up  to  man  at  the  head  of  all. 

"  Of  systems  possible,  if  it's  confessed 
That  wisdom  infinite  must  form  the  best, 
Where  all  must  fall  or  not  coherent  be, 
And  all  that  rises,  rise  in  due  degree  ; 
Then,  in  the  scale  of  reasoning  life,  'tis  plain, 
There  must  be  somewhere  such  a  rank  as  man  ; 
And  all  the  questions  (wrangle  e'er  so  long) 
Is  only  4his,  if  God  has  placed  him  wrong." 

"In  the  chain  of  animals,"  says  Srnellie,  "man  is 
unquestionably  the  chief  or  capital  link.  As  a  highly 
rational  animal,  improved  with  science  and  arts,  he 

*Smellie's  Philosophy  of  Natural  Hi.-'  .vy.   r,o,t  >n  Ed.  p.  309. 


182  THE    IMMOKTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

is,  in  some  measure,  related  to  beings  of  superior 
order,  wherever  they  exist."* 

"  Man,",  says  President  Hopkins,  "  has  been  called 
the  microcosm,  or  little  world,  because,  while  he  has 
a  distinctive  nature  of  his  own,  he  is  a  partaker  and 
representative  of  every  thing  in  the  inferior  creation. 
In  him  are  united  the  material  and  the  spiritual,  the 
animal  and  the  rational.  He  has  instincts,  propensi- 
ties, desires,  passions,  by  which  he  is  allied  to  the 
animals ;  he  has  also  reason,  conscience,  free-will,  by 
which  he  is  allied  to  higher  intelligences  and  to 
God."f 

II.  Now  the  manner  in  which  the  various  kingdoms 
of  nature — the  animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral — and 
also  the  different  species  in  each  kingdom  are  linked 
together  requires,  if  the  analogy  is  to  hold  good 
throughout  creation,  that  man,  who  stands  at  the 
head  of  this  lower  world,  should  connect  with  the  next 
link  above  in  the  chain  of  being  which  would  require  a 
nature  distinctly  spiritual,  and  quite  above  that  of  the 
beast  that  perishes. 

Look  nature  through,  'tis  neat  gradation  all, 

By  what  minute  degrees  her  scale  ascends ! 

Each  middle  nature  joined  at  each  extreme; 

To  that  above  it  joined,  to  that  beneath, 

Parts  into  parts  reciprocally  shot, 

Abhor  divorce.     What  love  of  union  reigns  ! 

Here  dormant  matter  waits  a  call  to  life; 

Half-life,  half-death,  join  there;  here  life  and  sense, 

There  sense  from  reason  steals  a  glimmering  ray ; 

Reason  shines  out  in  man.     But  how  preserved 

The  chain  unbroken  upward  to  the  realms 

Of  incorporeal  life  ?     These  realms  of  bliss, 

*  Smellie's  Philosophy  of  Natural  History,  p.  -°.07. 
f  Lectures  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  p.  167. 


MAN'S  RELATION  TO  THE  LOWER  ANIMALS.       183 

Where  death  bath  no  dominion  ?     Grant  a  make 
Half-mortal,  half-iinmortal :  earthly  part 
And  part  ethereal :  grant  the  soul  of  man 
Eternal,  or  in  man  the  series  ends. 
Wide  yawns  the  gap :  connection  is  no  more; 
Checked  reason  halts;  her  next  step  wants  support; 
Striving  to  climb,  she  tumbles  from  her  scheme, 
A  scheme  analogy  pronounced  so  true ; 
Analogy !  man's  surest  guide  below. 

The  relation  of  man  to  this  lower  world  is  not  only 
precisely  that  assigned  him  in  the  Scriptures,  but 
just  the  relation  to  suggest  his  connection  with  supe- 
rior beings,  and  a  more  exalted  state  of  existence. 
"Thou  hast  made  him  a  little  lower  than  the  angels, 
and  hast  crowned  him  with  glory  and  honor.  Thou 
madest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the  works  of  thy 
hands;  thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet:  all 
sheep  and  oxen,  yea,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field; 
the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and 
whatsoever  passeth  through  the  paths  of  the  seas."  Ps. 
viii.  5-8. 

Standing,  there,  where  the  Scriptures  place  him, 
at  the  head  of  all  that  lives  and  moves,  on  the  land 
or  in  the  air  and  sea,  and  tracing  the  wonderful 
gradating  from  the  crudest  form  of  animal  life,  up- 
ward to  himself,  man  may  truthfully  exclaim, 

"  The  chain  of  being  is  complete  in  me, 
In  me  is  matter's  last  gradation  lost, 
And  the  next  step  is  spirit — Deity  ! 
I  can  command  the  lightning,  and  am  dust! 
A  monarch  and  a  slave  !  a  worm,  a  god !" 

And  being  thus  at  the  head  of  this  lower  world, 
and  only  "a  little  lower  than  the  angels,"  he  occu- 
pies the  place,  to  say  the  least,  of  the  connecting 
link  between  the  terrestrial  and  the  celestial.  And 


184  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

when  to  this  fact  we  add  the  obvious  fact  of  his  supe- 
rior intellectuality,  the  conviction  is  strengthened  that 
in  his  higher  nature  he  is  a  SPIRIT,  and  thus  allied  to 
those  invisible  beings  called  angels,  who  throng  the 
shores  of  immortality. 


PERFECTION   OF   THE   HUMAN   BODY.  185 


CHAPTER    V. 

* 

THE    IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL   INFERRED  FROM   THE 
STRUCTURE    OF    THE   BODY   IN   WHICH    IT   DWELLS. 

I.  "  I  AM  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,"  said 
the  Psalmist  three  thousand  years  ago;  and  modern 
physiology  fully  justifies  the  exclamation.  Of  all 
living  organisms  the  human  hody  is  the  most  perfect. 
Taken  as  a  whole  it  is  the  grand  climax  of  all  animal 
existence,  the  embodiment  of  the  grand  ideal  of 
organic  perfection,  toward  which  all  other  animals, 
tribe  by  tribe,  seem  to  have  been  advanced  by  the 
Creator  by  regular  and  successive  approaches.  As  it 
was  the  last  created,  so  it  was  superior  to  all  others, 
and  worthy  to  be  the  palace  of  that  celestial  nature, 
who,  under  God,  should  rule  this  lower  world. 

"It  is  a  wonderful  fact  developed  by  geology,  com- 
bined with  comparative  anatomy,  that  all  the  forms 
of  animal  existence  find  the  perfected  completion  of 
their  type  in  man.  Their  whole  system  through  ages, 
converges  individually  and  collectively,  like  a  vast 
pyramid  in  him,  as  its  apex.  Termination  in  man  is 
the  tendency  in  which  they  all  advance.  Hence  man 
is  the  being  of  which  all  the  past  animal  system  was 
a  prophecy."* 

*  Methodist  Quarterly  Review  for  April  1859. 


186  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

"The  recognition  of  an  ideal  exemplar  for  the 
vertebrated  animals,"  says  Professor  Owen:  "proves, 
that  the  knowledge  of  such  a  being  as  man,  must 
have  existed  before  man  appeared.  *  *  *  *  The 
archetypal  idea  was  manifested  in  the  flesh  under 
divers  modifications  upon  this  planet  long  prior  to  the 
existence  of  those  animal  specie  that  actually  exem- 
plify  it." 

"It  is  evident,"  says  Professor  Agassiz:  "that 
there  is  a  manifest  progress  in  the  succession  of 
being  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  *  *  especially  in 
their  increasing  resemblance  to  man. 

Hugh  Miller  tells  us  in  his  "  Testimony  of  the 
Rocks  "  that  "man  is  pre-eminently  what  a  theologian 
would  term  the  antetypal  existence — the  being  in 
whom  the  types  meet  and  are  fulfilled," — and  Oken 
calls  him  "the  sum  of  all  the  animals." 

Such  is  the  testimony  of  these  students  of  physical 
nature  given  entirely  out  of  view  of  its  bearing  upon 
the  question  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  The  fact, 
therefore,  upon  which  we  insist,  namely,  that  the  hu- 
man body  is  the  most  perfect  of  all  animal  organiza- 
tions, will  scarcely  be  disputed.  For  beauty  of  figure, 
grace  of  motion,  utility,  strength  and  convenience  all 
combined  it  has  no  equal  in  all  the  realm  of  animal 
life.  The  human  hand  alone  with  its  bones  and  joints 
and  muscles  and  tendons  and  nerves  and  arteries  and 
veins — its  exquisite  form  and  adaptation  to  the  wants 
of  man — has  been  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  the 
anatomist  in  every  age.  And  so  of  other  portions 
of  the  human  organism. 

"  We  cannot,  with  propriety,  say  that  one  com- 
plete animal  is  nobler  than  another,  because  of  any 


PERFECTIONS   OF   THE    HUMAN   BODY.  187 

prominence  of  particular  organs  as  compared  with  its 
whole  body  ;  nor  is  one  creature  to  be  called  monstrous 
or  ugly,  in  comparison  with  another,  for  each  is  ex- 
actly fitted  to  its  place  in  the  grand  scale  of  exist- 
ence, and  therefore,  all  are  alike  beautiful,  as  exhibi- 
ting the  wonderful  wisdom  and  beneficence  of  God. 
But  creation  is  graduated,  and  every  creature  has  its 
proper  place.  The  totality  of  an  animal's  framework, 
its  position  on  the  scale  of  being.  If  we  measure 
man  according  to  this  standard  his  superiority  is  at 
once  evident."* 

II.  "  The  organization  of  man,"  says  Lavater, 
"  peculiarly  distinguishes  him  from  all  other  earthly 
beings  ;  and  his  physiognomy,  that  is  to  say,  the  su- 
perfices  and  outlines  of  his  organization,  show  him  to 
be  infinitely  superior  to  all  those  visible  beings  by 
which  he  is  surrounded,  "f 

Of  all  the  numberless  animal  organisms  with  which 
the  beneficent  Creator  has  peopled  the  globe,  and  with 
all  their  wonderful  variety  and  beauty  and  exquisite 
workmanship,  and  adaptation  to  their  various  abodes 
and  habits  of  life,  the  body  of  man  alone  is  adapted 
to  the  occupancy  and  demands  of  an  intelligent  spirit. 

"  As  the  habits  of  certain  animals  have  been  cor- 
rectly inferred  from  the  examination  of  detached  por- 
tions of  their  structure,  so  from  almost  any  part  of 
man's  body  we  may  at  once  discover  that  it  was  con- 
structed for  the  accommodation  and  delight  of  an  in- 
tellectual being.  In  fact,  the  excellency  of  man  (as 
an  animal)  consists  in  the  delicate  adaptation  of  his 
structure,  for  without  this  the  reasoning  principle  Avould 

*  Power  of  the  Soul  over  the  Body  by  George  Moore,  M.  D.  p.  18. 
|  Essay  on  Physiology. 


188  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

be  out  of  place.     He  is  the  most  delicate  creature 
on  the  earth."* 

Nor  is  this  all.  He  is  not  only  the  most  delicate 
creature  on  the  earth  in  his  physical  organization,  but, 
as  already  stated,  the  human  body  is  the  only  animal 
organization  in  existence,  through  which  the  soul  of 
man  could  exercise  all  its  functions,  and  fully  mani- 
fest and  develope  all  its  capabilities. 

Suppose,  for  illustration,  the  soul  of  some  tailor  or 
watch-maker  should  be  transferred  from  the  body  in 
which  it  dwells  to  that  of  a  dog  or  swan ;  what  could 
he  do  in  such  a  body  ?  Could  he  handle  a  needle  or 
use  a  forcep  in  either  of  those  bodies  ?  The  horse  is 
among  the  most  beautiful  and  noble  of  animals.  Look 
at  him  as  described  by  Job  :  "  Hast  thou  given  the 
horse  strength  ?  hast  thou  clothed  his  neck  with  thun- 
der ?  Canst  thou  make  him  afraid  as  a  grasshopper  ? 
the  glory  of  his  nostrils  is  terrible.  He  paweth  in 
the  valley,  and  rejoiceth  in  his  strength :  he  goeth  on 
to  meet  the  armed  men.  He  mocketh  at  fear,  and  is 
not  affrighted ;  neither  turneth  he  back  from  the 
sword.  The  quiver  rattleth  against  him,  the  glitter- 
ing spear  and  the  shield.  He  swalloweth  the  ground 
with  fierceness  and  rage  :  neither  believeth  he  that  it 
is  the  sound  of  the  trumpet.  He  saith  among  the 
trumpets,  Ha,  ha  !  and  he  smelleth  the  battle  afar  off, 
the  thunder  of  the  captains,  and  the  shouting." 

But  suppose  the  spirit  of  Milton  had  been  lodged 
in  such  a  physical  organization,  perfect  as  it  seems  to 
be,  could  he  ever  have  produced  Paradise  Lost  ? 
Could  he  have  held  a  pen  with  his  uncloven  hoof,  or 
dictated  his  poem  to  an  amanuensis  through  the  throat 

#  Moore  on  the  Soul  and  Body,  p.  21. 


PERFECTION    OF    THE    HUMAN    BODY.  189 

of  such  an  animal  ?  Most  certainly  not.  And  the 
same  would  be  true  of  every  quadruped,  and  bird  and 
fish  throughout  nature.  And  why  ?  Simply  because 
there  is  not  another  animal  body  on  earth  adapted  to 
become  the  abode  of  a  rational  spirit.  The  bodies  of 
the  lower  animals  are  all  adapted  to  their  uses — to 
cleave  the  air  or  shoot  through  the  waters,  and  seize 
their  prey,  or  otherwise  supply  their  physical  wants ; 
but  not  a  body  among  them  all  is  adapted  to  the  de- 
mands of  an  intellectual  life.  What  animal  but  man 
could  play  a  flute,  or  a  piano,  even  if  endowed  with 
the  musical  talent  of  a  Mozart  ? 

"  How  nice  a  structure  must  be  called  into  play 
when  a  skillful  pianist,  by  the  aid  of  an  additional 
instrument  fitted  to  his  convenience,  executes  an  in- 
tricate piece  of  music,  not  only  in  a  wonderfully  ra- 
pid succession  of  mechanical  movements,  but  also  in 
a  manner  fully  to  express  the  very  feelings  of  the 
soul  ? 

"  But  how  much  more  forcibly  is  the  same  power 
manifested  in  the  human  voice !  By  it  the  spirit 
speaks,  not  only  in  infinite  variety  of  articulated 
sounds,  but  more  marvellously  still  by  the  modulated 
language  of  tones,  so  as  to  excite  into  ecstacy  or  ago- 
ny every  sympathy  within  us." 

But  we  must  not  forget  that  as  the  soul  requires  a 
peculiar  body  through  which  to  manifest  its  wondrous 
powers,  so  the  exquisitely  wrought  body  of  man, 
would  be  utterly  useless  to  a  less  intelligent  spiritual 
being  than  the  soul  which  occupies  it.  Like  the  lamp 
in  the  distant  light-house,  it  is  the  spirit  in  man  after 
all  that  illuminates  the  body,  and  gives  to  it  its  chief 
importance  and  utility.  Without  it  there  would  be 


190  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

no  music  or  poetry  or  sculpture  or  painting  or  scien- 
tific or  mechanical  creations,  however  capable  the 
body  might  be  of  doing  its  part  towards  their  produc- 
tion. 

"  What  is  it  that  so  skillfully  touches  the  musical 
instrument  ?  What  is  it  that  enjoys  as  well  as  actu- 
ates, receives  as  well  as  communicates,  through  this 
inscrutable  organization  ?  It  is,  as  we  have  said,  the 
soul  or  spirit,  without  which  this  body  were  more  un- 
meaning than  a  statue,  and  only  fit,  as  it  would  tend, 
to  decay.  It  is  the  soul  which  animates  the  features 
and  causes  them  to  present  a  living  picture  of  each 
passion,  so  that  the  inmost  agitations  of  the  heart  be- 
come visible  in  a  moment,  and  the  wish  that  would 
seek  concealment  betrays  its  presence  and  its  power, 
in  the  vivid  eye,  while  the  blood  kindles  into  crimson 
with  a  thought  that  burns  along  the  brow.  It  is  this 
which  diffuses  a  sweet  serenity  and  rest  upon  the  vis- 
age, when  our  feelings  are  tranquilized,  and  our 
thoughts  abide  with  heaven,  like  the  ocean  in  a  calm, 
reflecting  the  peaceful  glories  of  the  cloudless  skies. 
This  indwelling  spirit  of  power  blends  our  features 
into  unison  and  harmony,  and  awakes  "  the  music 
breathing  from  the  face,"  when  in  association  with 
those  we  love,  and  heart  answering  to  heart,  we  live 
in  sympathy,  while  memory  and  hope  repose  alike  in 
smiles  upon  the  bosom  of  enjoyment.  It  is  a  flame 
from  heaven  purer  than  Promethean  fire,  that  vivifies 
and  energizes  the  breathing  form.  It  is  an  immate- 
rial essence,  a  being,  that  quickens  matter  and  imparts 
life,  Sensation,  motion,  to  the  intricate  framework  of 
our  bodies ;  which  wills  when  we  act,  attends  when 
we  perceive,  looks  into  the  past  when  we  reflect,  and 


PERFECTION   OF   THE   HUMAN   BODY.  191 

not  content  with  the  present,  shoots  with  all  its  aims 
and  all  its  hopes  into  the  futurity  that  is  forever 
dawning  upon  it." 

So  pertinent  to  the  general  subject  is  this  extract, 
that  we  could  not  well  withhold  it  from  the  reader, 
even  though  a  portion  of  it  has  but  a  slight  bearing 
upon  the  particular  point  to  which  this  chapter  is  de- 
voted. To  return,  then,  to  the  topic  in  hand : 

"  If  the  body  of  man  had  been  constituted  on  any 
inferior  model,  art  and  science  could  have  had  no  out- 
ward existence,  and  reason  must  have  been  imprisoned 
in  brute  form.  Supposing  human  knowledge  then 
possible,  man  could  only  have  been  manifest  as  a  sub- 
tle beast.  '  It  is  mind  that  makes  the  body  rich,' 
but  the  soul  needs  a  corresponding  body,  and  God  has  ' 
wedded  them  together,  in  perfect  suitability  to  their 
present  business  and  abode." 

The  body  of  man  alone  is  adapted  to  the  demands 
of  an  occupant  possessed  of  intelligence,  genius,  sci- 
ence, art,  and  skill ;  and  may  therefore  be  regarded 
as  indicating  in  itself  the  exalted  nature  of  the  soul 
of  which  it  is  the  dwelling-place.  We  lack  the  speed 
of  the  antelope,  the  strength  of  the  bison,  the  hearing 
of  the  elk,  the  sight  of  the  panther,  and  the  keen 
scent  of  the  fox-hound,  but  all  these  qualities  together, 
and  every  other  in  which  the  bodies  of  the  lower  animal 
excel  that  of  man,  are  more  than  compensated  for  by 
the  single  apparatus  by  which  these  lines  are  written 
— the  human  hand.  God  made  the  human  body  to 
be  the  abode  of  an  angelic  nature.  As  it  lay  there 
fresh  from  the  all-forming  hand,  before  he  breathed 
into  it  the  immortal  spirit,  it  was  the  fit  abode  for  a 
seraphic  nature,  such  as  God  placed  within  it. 


192  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

Now  as  we  may  logically  infer  the  character  of  the 
occupant  of  the  house,  from  the  character  and  appear- 
ance of  the  house  itself,  so  we  may  logically  infer  the 
character,  dignity  and  destiny  of  the  soul  of  man, 
from  the  character  of  the  earthly  house  in  which  the 
Creator  has  assigned  it  its  present,  and  we  may  add, 
its  everlasting  ahode.  For  we  may  not  only  contem- 
plate the  hody  as  it  now  is,  but  also  as  it  shall  be  be- 
yond the  resurrection,  and  when  mortality  is  swal- 
lowed up  of  life. 

The  perfection  of  the  human  body,  therefore,  as 
compared  with  pther  animal  bodies,  betokens  the  ex- 
alted character  of  its  occupant,  and  suggests  for  the 
soul  of  man  a  destiny  unlike  that  of  the  beast  that 
perishes. 

Look  on  that  glorious  face  ! 
There  the  quick  play  of  varied  passions  see ! 
Look  on  that  brow  of  thought!  must  it  not  be 

A  spirit's  dwelling-place? 

Would  God  a  palace  rear 
For  a  frail  being  of  no  nobler  life, 
Than  that  which  closes  with  the  dying  strife, 

A  life  that  endeth  here  ? 

Ah,  no !  the  tenant  must, 
More  glorious  than  its  glorious  mansion  be; 
Whose  dome  an^d  column  soon  alas !  we  see 

All  crumbling  back  to  dust. 


DOMINION  OVER  THE  BODY.        193 


CHAPTER  VI. 

DOMINION  OF  THE  SOUL  OVER  THE  BODY. 

THE  dominion  of  mind  over  matter  in  general,  and 
especially  of  the  soul  over  the  body,  proves  the  latter 
to  be  a  mere  instrument  of  the  soul,  and  not  the  soul 
itself. 

I.  The  general  supremacy  of  mind  over  matter  will 
scarcely  be  questioned.  It  is  shown  in  all  the 
mechanical  arts,  in  sculpture  and  painting,  and  in  all 
the  improvements  effected  in  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdom.  The  original  wild  rose,  from  which  man, 
"working  together  with  God,"  has  developed  a  score 
of  exquisite  varieties,  was  originally  a  simple  four 
leaved  flower,  neither  beautiful  nor  fragrant.  And 
the  same  may  be  said  in  general  of  scores  of  our 
floral  beauties  and  favorites — they  are  to  a  great  ex- 
tent human  productions.  Our  fruits,  whether  berries 
or  peaches,  pears  or  apples,  have  become  what  they 
are  by  cultivation,  from  very  unpromising  beginnings. 
So  of  our  grains  and  garden  vegetables. 

And  is  not  the  same  true  of  our  domestic  animals 

— horses,  oxen,  sheep,  swine,  and  fowls  of  all  kinds? 

Were  not  their  ancestors  in  their  wild  state  feeble 

and  worthless  pigmies,  compared  with  their  domesti- 

13 


194  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

cated  posterity?  By  careful  observation  upon  cause 
and  effect,  and  the  use  of  such  means  as  were  adapted 
to  produce  the  desired  end,  these  different  animals 
have  been  improved  to  double  the  size  and  value  of 
their  progenitors,  while  in  a  wild  state. 

And  what  is  all  this  but  the  triumph  of  spirit  over 
matter? — of  the  soul  of  man,  over  the  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  the  complete  development  of  portions  of  the 
vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms  ?  Indeed,  it  is  more 
than  this;  it  is  carrying  out  a  general  plan,  by 
laws  established  by  the  Deity,  and  with  his  con- 
tinued co-operation,  to  an  extent  that  seems  scarcely 
to  have  been  contemplated  in  the  original  crea- 
tion. 

II.  The  almost  complete  subserviency  of  material 
creation,  in  one  form  or  another,  to  the  wants  and 
happiness  of  man,  seems  to  justify  the  conclusion 
that  the  material  universe  was  created  after  all  the 
angelic  hosts,  and,  in  some  way  to  minister  to  the 
development  and  happiness  of  intellectual  life.  The 
heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,  not  only  to  men 
but  to  angels.  And  who  that  believes  in  those  bright 
celestial  spirits  can  doubt  the  complete  subjection  of 
all  material  things  to  their  convenience  and  happi- 
ness? If  men  in  the  body  can  do  what  we  see  done, 
in  the  creation  of  unnumbered  forms  of  beauty  and 
utility  from  the  various  elements  of  nature,  what 
must  be  the  power  of  an  angel  over  material  things  ? 

Were  the  globe  a  solid  mass  of  crystal,  the  beams 
of  the  sun  would  pass  through  it  as  swiftly  as  through 
vacant  space.  And  could  not  a  celestial  do  as  much  ? 
If  Gabriel  were  to  meet  a  vast  planet  in  his  ethereal 
flights,  would  he  be  obliged  to  turn  aside  and  <ro 


DOMINION  UVEK  THE  BODY.         195 

around  it,  as  a  ship  at  sea  would  sail  around  an 
island?  Such  is  the  superiority  of  spirit  over  mat- 
ter, that  angels  and  disembodied  human  souls  can 
doubtless  fly  through  solid  marble  and  granite  as 
easily  and  as  swiftly  as  in  the  open  void  of  heaven ! 

III.  It  is  believed  by  many  to  be  a  matter  of  con- 
sciousness that  they  dwell  in  a  body,  from  which  they 
are  as  distinct  as  light  is  from  the  crystal  through 
which  it  passes.  We  "feel  "  that  we  (the  thinking 
power)  are  not  the  body,  and  the  body  is  not  our- 
selves. Nor  is  it  a  valid  objection  to  this  view  to 
affirm  that  if  it  were  a  matter  of  consciousness,  all 
men  would  arrive  at  the  same  conclusion,  and  there 
would  be  no  dispute  upon  the  subject.  A  metaphysi- 
cian may  be  conscious  of  certain  mental  phenomena, 
of  which  others  may  have  no  knowledge,  for  the 
simple  reason,  that  he  has  made  the  subject  a  study, 
and  is  accustomed  to  noting  with  care  and  accuracy 
his  mental  states  and  processes.  So  in  regard  to  the 
occupancy  of  the  body — the  vast  majority  of  mankind 
never  think  of  the  subject,  and  have  therefore  no  dis- 
tinct consciousness  in  regard  to  it.  But  let  a  person 
sit  down  and,  turning  his  thoughts  within,  calmly 
contemplate  the  relation  of  that  which  thinks,  and 
reasons,  and  remembers  within  him,  to  the  physical 
frame  with  which  it  is  connected;  and  if  he  does  not 
realize  a  consciousness  that  he  is  not  the  body,  but 
merely  its  occupant,  we  believe  it  will  be  either  be- 
cause such  consciousness  is  at  war  with  his  creed,  or 
because  he  is  unaccustomed  to  distinguishing  between 
his  consciousness  and  his  sensations.  Who  that  re- 
flects ever  confounds  the  thinking  principle  within 
him,  with  his  feet  or  hips,  or  arms,  or  even  with  the 


196  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE   SOUL. 

brain  ?  *  Are  we  not  conscious  that  these  are  but  in- 
struments through  which  we  communicate  with  the 
external  world? 

IV.  But  whatever  may  be  thought  of  our  conscious- 
ness of  the  occupancy  of  the  body,  as  a  distinct  ques- 
tion, there  is  another  point,  equally  pertinent  to  our 
argument,  as  we  conceive,  and,  upon  which  there  can 
be  no  dispute. 

Every  person  is  conscious  of  the  control  he  exer- 
cises over  his  own  body,  as  over  a  machine  to  be 
operated  by  him  at  will.  At  his  bidding  the  hand 
rises  or  falls,  or  moves  horizontally;  or  the  feet  con- 
vey the  body  to  a  different  locality.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  involuntary  motions,  like  that  of  the 
heart,  or  of  the  lungs  during  sleep,  the  whole  machine 
is  obedient  to  the  will.  The  mind  sits  enthroned 
like  a  mariner  at  the  helm,  or  an  engineer  at  his  post, 
and  the  body  obeys  all  its  mandates. 

And  even  when  through  fracture,  or  dislocation,  or 
paralysis,  an  arm  or  a  leg  becomes  immovable,  how 
distinct  the  consciousness  that  the  difficulty  is  in  the 
machine  which  is  out  of  order,  and  not  in  the  opera- 
tor, who  retains  all  Ms  powers  and  capabilities  unim- 
paired. We  are  distinctly  conscious  that  the  mind 
controls  the  body,  and  not  the  body  the  mind. 
The  material  is  consciously  subject  to  the  spiritual. 

V.  All  these  facts  point  unmistakably  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  body  is  not  the  soul,  or  any  part  of 
it,  but  the  mere  instrument  through  which  the  mind 

*  We  are  conscious  of  an  effort  in  connection  with  the  brain,  in  think- 
in}.'  and  hard  study;  but  it  ia  equally  true  that  "the  mind  is  sensibly 
in  every  limb,  and  acts  wherever  it  pleases  to  act,  provided  the 
mechanism  be  fit  for  use."  MoorpV  Power  of  the  Soul  over  the  Body, 
p.  70. 


DOMINION  OVER  THE  BODY.         197 

holds  intercourse  with  the  material  world.  No  part 
of  the  body  indicates  that  it  is,  in  itself,  the  moving 
power.  On  the  contrary  the  relation  of  some  of  the 
organs,  at  least,  to  artificial  aids  to  sensation,  show 
conclusively  that  like  them  they  are  mere  instruments 
of  a  higher  power,  which  uses  them.  Take  for  illus- 
tration the  human  eye  and  ear. 

"We  are  accustomed  to  say  the  eye  sees,  the  ear 
hears,  the  finger  feels,  and  so  forth;  but  such  lan- 
guage is  incorrect,  and  only  admissible  because  we 
are  accustomed  to  the  error,  and  our  expressions  are 
necessarily  accommodated  to  ignorance,  or  are  not 
equal  to  our  knowledge.  The  eye  itself  no  more  sees 
than  the  telescope  which  we  hold  before  it  to  assist 
our  vision.  The  ear  hears  not  any  more  than  the 
trumpet  of  tin,  which  the  deaf  man  directs  towards 
the  speaker  to  convey  the  sound  of  his  voice,  and  so 
with  regard  to  all  the  organs  of  sense.  They  are  but 
instruments  which  become  the  media  of  intelligence 
to  the  absolute  mind,  which  uses  them,  whenever  that 
mind  is  inclined  or  obliged  to  employ  them.  Or, 
perhaps,  they  might  be  more  correctly  represented  as 
the  seats  or  proper  places  of  impressions,  because  of 
their  exact  adaptation  to  external  influences." 

"The  slightest  examination  of  the  organs  of  sense 
will  convince  an  observer  that  they  are  constructed 
merely  as  instruments.  What  is  the  eye  but  a  most 
perfect  optical  contrivance?  *  *  No  mechanism  in- 
vented by  man  was  ever  so  well  contrived  or  so  well 
placed,  or  could  move  so  precisely  as  required  under 
the  action  of  its  pullies.  No  servant  was  ever  so 
obedient ;  for  without  a  conscious  effort  of  the  will, 
without  a  command,  and  as  if  instinct  with  the  mind 


198  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

that  employs  it,  this  exquisite  aparatus,  which  is 
both  a  camera  obscura  and  a  telescope,  instanta- 
neously takes  the  direction  of  a  desire,  and  accommo- 
dates itself  to  the  range  of  distance  and  the  degree 
of  light." 

"  And  so  of  the  ear :  it  is  a  complete  acoustic  in- 
strument, with  its  exterior  trumpet  to  collect  sounds, 
and  its  vibrating  tympanum,  and  its  chamber  and 
winding  passages,  and  its  dense  fluids,  so  well  calcu- 
lated to  propagate  and  modify  vibrations,  and  its  mi- 
nute and  sensitive  muscles,  to  act  as  cords  to  brace 
the  drum,  just  as  required,  and  to  move  the  jointed 
piston,  which  regulates  the  water  in  its  channels,  ac- 
cording to  circumstances,  and  the  whole  built  up  with- 
in a  stone-like  structure,  which  prevents  the  sound 
from  being  wasted."* 

And  so  of  the  organs  of  speech  and  song  and  that 
most  wonderful  of  all  contrivances,  the  human  hand. 
They  are  all  adapted  to  perform  the  will  of  an  in- 
dwelling and  controlling  rational  spirit — such  duties 
as  no  other  original  organism  is  ever  called  upon  or 
is  competent  to  perform. 

V.  The  same  general  idea  is  thus  forcibly  elabora- 
ted by  Bishop  Butler : 

"If  we  consider  our  bodies  somewhat  more  dis- 
tinctly, as  made  up  of  organs  and  instruments  of  per- 
ception and  of  motion,  it  will  bring  us  to  the  same 
conclusion.  Thus,  the  common  optical  experiments 
show,  and  even  the  observation  how  sight  is  assisted 
by  glasses,  shows,  that  we  see  with  our  eyes,  in  the 
same  sense  as  we  see  with  glasses.  Nor  is  there  any 

*  Dr.  Moore  on  the  Power  of  the  Soul  over  the  Body,  American  Ed. 
pp.  26-27. 


DOMINION  OVER  THE  BODY.         199 

reason  to  believe,  that  we  see  with  them  in  any  other 
sense ;  any  other,  I  mean,  which  would  lead  us  to 
think  the  eye  itself  a  percipient.  The  like  is  to  be 
said  of  hearing :  and  our  feeling  distant  solid  matter 
by  means  of  somewhat  in  our  hand,  seems  an  instance 
of  the  like  kind,  as  to  the  subject  we  are  considering. 
All  these  are  instances  of  foreign  matter,  or  such  as 
is  no  part  of  our  body,  being  instrumental  in  prepa- 
ring objects  for,  and  conveying  them  to  the  perceiv- 
ing power,  in  a  manner  similar,  or  like  to  the  manner 
in  which  our  organs  of  sense  prepare  and  convey  them. 
Both  are,  in  a  like  way,  instruments  of  our  receiving 
such  ideas  from  external  objects,  as  the  Author  of 
nature  appointed  those  external  objects  to  be  the  oc- 
casions of  exciting  in  us.  However,  glasses  are  evi- 
dently instances  of  this ;  namely,  of  matter,  which 
is  no  part  of  our  body,  preparing  objects  for,  and  con- 
veying them  towards  the  perceiving  power,  in  like 
manner  as  our  bodily  organs  do.  And  if  we  see  with 
our  eyes  only  in  the  same  manner  as  we  do  with 
glasses,  the  like  may  justly  be  concluded  from  analogy, 
of  all  our  other  senses.  It  is  not  intended,  by  any- 
thing here  said,  to  affirm,  that  the  whole  apparatus 
of  vision,  or  of  perception  by  any  other  of  our  senses, 
can  be  traced,  through  all  its  steps,  quite  up  to  the 
living  power  of  seeing,  or  perceiving;  but  that,  so 
far  as  it  can  be  traced  by  experimental  observations, 
so  far  it  appears,  that  our  organs  of  sense  prepare 
and  convey  on  objects,  in  order  to  their  being  per- 
ceived, in  like  manner  as  foreign  matter  does,  without 
affording  any  shadow  of  appearance,  that  they  them- 
selves perceive.  And  that  we  have  no  reason  to 
think  our  organs  of  sense  percipients,  is  confirmed  by 


200       THE  IMMOKTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL. 

instances  of  persons  losing  some  of  them,  the  living 
beings  themselves,  their  former  occupiers,  remaining 
unimpaired.  It  is  confirmed  also  by  the  experience 
of  dreams ;  by  which  we  find  we  are  at  present  pos- 
sessed of  a  latent,  and  what  would  otherwise  be  an 
unimagined  unknown  power  of  perceiving  sensible  ob- 
jects, in  as  strong  and  lively  a  manner  without  our 
external  organs  of  sense,  as  with  them."* 

VI.  It  is  no  sufficient  reply  to  the  above  view  to 
allege  that  the  control  of  which  we  speak  is  simply 
the  dominion  of  the  brain  over  the  muscles  and  bones, 
through  the  medium  of  the  nervous  system.  For  if 
we  attribute  this  conscious  supremacy  and  control  to 
the  brain  alone,  as  a  purely  material  substance,  then 
we  must  attribute  to  it  all  the  other  functions  and 
powers  of  the  human  soul,  or  rather  declare  the  brain 
to  be  the  soul  itself,  and  not  the  mere  instrument 
through  which  the  mind  operates  upon  other  portions 
of  the  body.  This  brings  us  squarely  on  to  the  plat- 
form of  materialism,  and  justifies  a  glance  at  the  no- 
tion that  the  brain  in  itself  considered,  is  the  origi- 
nal source  of  thought  and  consciousness. 

"The  brain  has  been  analyzed,  and  more  than  eight 
tenths  of  its  substance  has  been  found  to  be  water. 
Indeed  this,  mixed  up  with  a  little  albumen,  a  still 
less  quantity  of  fat,  osmazome,  phosphorus,  acids, 
salts  and  sulphur,  constitute  its  material  elements. 
In  all  cases  water  largely  predominates.  Take 
even  the  pineal  gland — that  interior  and  mysterious 
organ  of  the  brain,  supposed  by  Descartes,  and  by 
many  philosophers  after  him,  to  be  the  peculiar  seat 
of  the  soul — even  this  has  been  analyzed.  Its  prin- 

*  Butler's  Analogy,  Part  I.  Chapter  i. 


DOMINION   OVER   THE    BODY.  201 

cipal  elements  are  found  to  be  phosphate  of  lime,  to- 
gether with  a  small  proportion  of  carbonate  of  lime 
and  phosphates  of  ammonia  and  magnesia." 

"  If  the  brain  at  large  constitutes  the  soul,  then 
the  soul  is  only  a  peculiar  combination  of  oxygen  and 
hydrogen  with  albumen,  acids,  salts,  sulphur,  etc.  Or, 
if  the  pineal  gland  constitutes  the  soul,  then  the  prin- 
cipal element  of  soul  is  phosphate  of  lime  ! 

"  If  this  wonderful  theory  is  true,  it  may  be  safely 
conceded  that  we  gain  something  by  it.  We  have  at 
last  found  out  what  the  soul  is.  And  when  the  wise 
man  again  inquires,  'Who  knoweth  the  spirit  of 
man  ?'  these  sage  philosophers  may  respond,  '  We  ! 
it  is  phosphate  of  lime.'  But  what !  has  a  peculiar 
combination  of  a  few  elemental  substances  ;  has  phos- 
phate of  lime  been  the  cause,  the  fons  et  origo,  of  all 
the  glorious  manifestations  of  intellect  that  have  been 
made  among  men  ?  Is  it  osmazome  that  has  given  ori- 
gin to  the  creations  of  art  ?  Is  it  oxygen  that  blazes 
out  in  the  glowing  fires  of  eloquence  ?  Was  it  hy- 
drogen that  soared  in  the  philosophy  of  Newton,  and 
sought  with  all-comprehending  grasp  to  encircle  the 
universe  of  God  ?  Was  it  phosphate  of  lime  that 
wove  the  garlands  of  poetry,  and  thus  touched  the 
tender  chords  of  human  sympathy,  taste  and  senti- 
ment?"* 

And  what  has  materialism  to  respond  to  this  point 
blank  challenge  ?  Is  it  prepared  to  attribute  effects 
so  ethereal  and  rapturous,  to  the  gross  and  pondera- 
ble cause  to  which  it  belongs  if  its  assumption  be 
true  ?  Will  it  thus  elevate  the  stream  above  its  source, 
or  gather  grapes  of  thorns  and  figs  of  thistles  ? 

*  Dr.  Clark's  "  Man  all  Immortal,"  p.  58. 


202  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

But  we  must  pass  to  another  topic.  "We  have  shown 
in  the  present  chapter  the  dominion  of  mind  over 
matter,  in  general,  as  shown  in  the  arts,  and  in  the 
development  by  man  of  portions  of  the  vegetable  and 
animal  creation.  We  have  also  suggested  the  proba- 
ble order  of  creation,  and  the  relation  of  the  material 
to  the  spiritual  universe.  Consulting  our  personal 
consciousness  upon  the  question  of  our  spiritual  occu- 
pancy of  the  body,  we  have  shown  by  the  control 
which  the  spirit  exercises  over  the  physical  organism, 
and  the  relation  of  some  of  our  organs  to  certain  ar- 
tificial helps  to  sensation,  that  the  body  as  a  whole  is 
the  mere  instrument  of  the  mind,  and  no  more  the 
mind  itself,  than  the  locomotive  is  the  engineer  that 
runs  it.  And  finally,  that  the  idea  that  the  brain  is 
the  living  agent  that  controls  the  wondrous  mechanism, 
and  is  the  source  of  all  our  mental  phenomena,  is 
upon  its  face  a  palpable  absurdity. 

From  all  this  we  conclude  that  although  the  body 
may  be  laid  aside  at  death,  as  one  lays  down  a  tele- 
scope or  a  musical  instrument,  the  mind  will  still  live 
on,  unconscious  of  disability,  and  unaffected  by  the 
fate  of  the  material  organism  with  which  it  was  for  a 
time  connected,  and  over  which  it  once  held  dominion. 


UNEQUAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MIND  AND  BODY.   203 


CHAPTER  VII. 

UNEQUAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  MIND  AND  BODY. 

THAT  the  body  and  soul  are  distinct  essences,  and 
that  the  latter  is  not  wholly  dependent  upon  the 
former  for  its  powers  and  capabilities,  may  be  seen 
by  a  comparison  of  various  physical  and  mental 
phenomena,  in  the  relations  which  the  body  and 
spirit  bear  to  each  other  in  their  present  state  of 
union. 

I.  The  body  reaches  its  acme  of  vigor  and  power 
at  the  age  of  thirty-five  or  forty.*  From  that  period 
it  is  first  stationary  for  a  few  years,  and  then,  gradu- 
ally declines.  Not  so  the  mind.  When  the  body 
halts,  as  if  to  rest  from  its  toilsome  progress,  the  mind 
presses  onward  as  if  spurning  all  impediments  and 
continues  her  progressive  march  for  years  after  the 
body  has  begun  to  decline. 

These  facts  go  to  corroborate  the  doctrine  of  man's 
two-fold  nature,  and  of  the  capability  of  the  soul  to 
exist  even  independently  of  the  body. 

*  Bishop  D.  W.  Clark  fixes  the  zenith  of  bodily  vigor  at  twenty-five 
or  thirty,  and  the  period  of  the  greatest  intellectual  vigor  at  from  forty 
to  fifty.  See  Man  all  Immortal,  p.  127.  We  think  he  fixes  both  these 
points  too  early  in  life,  though  that  by  no  means  affects  the  general  fact, 
or  the  force  of  the  argument. 


204  THE   IMMORTALITY  OF  THE   SOUL. 

II.  But  to  this  it  is  replied  that  the  decay  of  the 
mental  faculties  in  extreme  age,  when  the  bodily  pow- 
ers give  way,  justifies  the  inference  that  when  the 
body  utterly  fails,  the  mind  will  become  extinct  with 
it.  But  this  by  no  means  follows ;  because  in  the 
first  place,  the  mind  does  not  always  decay  with  the 
body,  as  numerous  and  striking  instances  attest. 
Dryden  translated  the  Iliad  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight. 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  solved  the  famous  problem  of  the 
trajectories  at  the  age  of  seventy-three.  Hobbs  trans- 
lated the  Odyssey  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven  and  the 
Iliad  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight.  Dr.  Adam  Clarke 
died  at  the  age  of  seventy-two  and  John  Wesley  at 
the  age  of  eighty-eight,  both  as  vigorous  intellectually 
as  at  the  age  of  forty. 

Now  if  the  body  and  mind  were  identical,  they 
would  not  only  fail  together  in  most  instances,  but 
always ;  hence  a  single  exception,  like  those  above 
cited,  (and  many  others  still  more  striking,)  proves 
the  distinct  spirituality  of  the  mind,  and  its  power  to 
exercise  its  functions  independently  of  the  condition 
of  the  body  in  which  it  dwells.  In  the  second  place 
it  is  a  law  of  the  universe  that  few  changes  that  take 
place  in  nature  shall  be  abrupt  and  sudden.  The  re- 
fracting power  of  the  atmosphere  renders  gradual  the 
approach  and  departure  of  the  king  of  day.  But  for 
this  the  gloom  of  midnight  would  suddenly  give  place 
at  the  sun-rising  to  the  painful  glare  of  his  untem- 
pered  beams  ;  while  at  his  going  down  the  full  blaze 
of  day  would  be  suddenly  succeeded  by  deep  and 
blinding  darkness.  Little  by  little  the  light  fades 
from  us,  as  the  sun  sinks  down  towards  the  western 
horizon,  that  the  transition  from  day  to  night  may 


UNEQUAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MIND  AND  BODY.   205 

be  both  expected  and  agreeable.  So  in  regard  to 
man's  brief  day  ;  the  rule  of  nature  is  that  the  tran- 
sition from  this  life  to  another  shall  be  gradual,  and 
therefore  the  more  welcome  ;  and  that  failing  powers 
of  body  and  mind  shall  herald  our  departure  out  of 
time,  and  our  entrance  upon  an  eternal  state  of  ex- 
istence.* 

Why  then  should  the  seeming  mental  decay  of  man 
as  the  body  fails,  even  if  that  were  the  universal  law, 
be  regarded  as  furnishing  even  a  presumption  that 
the  change  of  death  is  to  terminate  his  existence  ? 
Does  not  nature  herself  furnish  us  with  analogies 
upon  which  we  may  found  a  far  more  cheering  expecta- 
tion? 

Let  us  not,  then,  misinterpret 

The  gentle  interlude, 
Of  second  childhood's  sweet  simplicity, 
A  spring  in  autumn  gentle  and  subdued, 

Telling  of  life  to  be. 

Flushing  the  weary  heart 

With  loving  pictures  of  life's  early  bowers, 
Wreathing  the  spirit  ere  it  doth  depart, 

With  sweet  immortal  flowers. 


*  Upon  the  subject  of  "  Growing  Old,"  Henry  Ward  Beecher  has 
somewhere  uttered  the  following  characteristic  remarks  :  "  Who  cares, 
then,  whether  the  hair  be  white  or  black  ?  Who  cares  whether  the  eye 
be  far-sighted  or  near-sighted  ?  Who  cares  whether  the  hearing  be  poor 
or  good  ?  Who  cares  what  becomes  of  the  senses  ?  This  is  not  my 
whole  life.  This  body  is  not  my  only  heritage.  I  go  to  that  brigLt 
land  where  the  immortal  part  shines  up  and  on  forever  and  ever.  And 
this  consideration  takes  away  the  sadness  occasioned  by  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  failure  of  the  earthly  faculties." 

But  what  of  the  resurrection,  and  the  "  glorious  body"  in  which  the 
saints  shall  dwell  after  that  event  ?  Will  the  soul  be  disembodied  "  for- 
ever and  ever?" 


206  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

III.  It  is  claimed  by  those  who  deny  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  that  intelligence  is  a  simple  result 
of  animal  organization,  as  electricity  is  a  result  of  the 
combination  of  certain  elements  in  the  galvanic 
battery;  and  that  consequently  when  the  body  is  dis- 
solved or  dies,  all  mind  or  intelligence  will  cease,  as 
galvanic  action  ceases  when  the  battery  is  destroyed. 
But  if  this  were  true,  the  development  of  intelligence 
should  in  all  cases  be  in  exact  proportion  to  the  de- 
velopment and  perfection  of  the  bodily  organism. 
No  one  expects  the  same  galvanic  power  from  a  small 
Leyden  jar  that  he  does  from  a  large  one.  Neither 
does  he  expect  the  same  result  from  a  single  jar,  that 
he  does  from  a  combination  of  jars  in  a  battery. 
And,  upon  the  principle  above  assumed,  the  same 
should  be  true  of  human  bodies  in  the  development 
of  intelligence — such  development  should  be  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  size  and  perfection  of  the  physical 
organization.  The  man  of  the  most  healthful  and 
stalwart  body  should  invariably  exhibit  the  most  in- 
telligence; while  the  effeminate,  sickly,  and  diminu- 
tive should  develope  mental  weakness  and  imbecility. 
But  such  is  not  the  case. 

For,  while  it  is  admitted  that  the  mind  and  body 
sympathize  with  each  other,  and  that  a  healthy  body 
is  favorable  to  mental  development,  while  the  opposite 
in  some  cases  seriously  affects  the  intellect;  it  never- 
theless remains  true  that  there  is  no  such  corre- 
spondence between  the  development  of  the  mind  and 
the  body,  as  the  doctrine  of  materialism  demands. 
For, 

1.  Persons  of  the  same  age  and  of  equal  physical 


UNEQUAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MIND  AND  BODY.   207 

development  often  have  a  very  unequal  mental  de- 
velopment. 

2.  It  often  happens  that  persons  of  very  small  or 
delicate  or  feeble  bodies  possess  wonderful  intellectual 
powers. 

Isaac  Watts,  Richard  Watson,  Henry  Kirk  White, 
and  Robert  Pollok  may  be  cited  as  examples.  And 
even  "General  Tom  Thumb,"  as  he  is  called,  and 
Calvin  Edson,  "the  living  skeleton,"  seemed  to  pos- 
sess their  mental  powers  in  full  vigor,  though  their 
respective  bodies  were  anomalies  in  human  physi- 
ology. 

The  newspapers  for  October  1861,  contained  an 
account  of  an  Indian  dwarf  in  Central  America,  30 
years  old,  but  17  inches  high,  born  without  arms 
or  legs,  yet  perfect  in  health,  and  speaking  two 
languages. 

Persons  are  not  unfrequently  to  be  met  with  whose 
souls  seem  to  be  so  out  of  proportion  to  their  bodies, 
as  to  remind  one  of  a  frail  ferry  boat  propelled  by  a 
marine  engine  of  a  thousand  horse  power,  causing 
it  to  tremble  from  keel  to  capstan  at  every  revolu- 
tion. 

3.  Thousands  of  persons  of  the  most  robust  and 
perfect  physical  organizations,  rise  but  little  above 
the  rank  of  idiots  in  point  of  intelligence.     As  animal 
organisms  they  are  well  nigh  faultless,  while  in  mat- 
ters of  thought  and  knowledge  they  are  strikingly 
weak  and  deficient. 

All  these  are  facts  so  well  known  as  to  require  no 
further  proof  or  illustration.  And  yet  they  are 
diametrically  opposed  to  the  fundamental  principles 
of  materialism.  They  not  only  indicate  a  distinction 


208  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

between  body  and  spirit,  and  that  the  latter  is  not 
dependent  upon  the  former  for  its  being  and  powers ; 
but  they  also  go  to  establish  the  idea  that  the  mind 
may  exist  separate  from  the  body,  and  when  all  the 
organs  through  which  it  held  communion  with  the 
material  world  have  crumbled  back  to  dust. 


HER  ENERGY   UNDER   DISABILITIES.  209 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

ENERGY    OF    THE    SOUL,    IN    CASES    WHERE    PHYSICAL 
ORGANS   ARE   WANTING. 

THE  energy  often  displayed  by  the  soul  of  man  in 
extemporizing  for  herself  new  channels  of  communi- 
cation with  the  external  world,  when  any  of  her 
natural  organs  are  destroyed,  is  another  of  the 
"signals  "  of  her  immortality.  Are  the  eye  and  ear 
both  wanting  or  useless,  the  smell  and  touch — the 
hands,  and  feet,  and  nose  are  made,  to  a  great  extent, 
to  supply  their  place. 

I.  James  Mitchell,  who  was  deaf,  blind,  and  dumb, 
could  tell  if  a  stranger  were  present,  and  in  what 
direction,  by  the  sense  of  smell  alone.  Dr.  Moyse,  a 
blind  man,  could  distinguish  a  black  dress  on  his 
friend  by  the  same  means.  A  blind  man  of  Puiseaux, 
in  France,  could  determine  the  quantity  of  fluid  in  a 
vessel,  by  the  sound  it  produced  by  running  from  one 
vessel  to  another.  Dr.  Rush  speaks  of  two  blind 
brothers  who  once  resided  in  Philadelphia,  who  knew 
when  they  approached  a  post  in  walking  across  a 
street,  by  the  peculiar  sound  which  the  ground  under 
their  feet  emitted  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  post; 
and  could  tell  the  names  of  a  number  of  tame  pigeons, 
with  which  they  amused  themselves  in  a  little  garden, 
14 


210  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

by  only  hearing  them  fly  over  their  heads.  Dr. 
Saunderson,  who  lost  his  sight  in  very  early  youth, 
and  remained  blind  through  life,  acquired  such  acute- 
ness  of  touch  that  he  could  distinguish,  by  merely 
letting  them  pass  through  his  fingers,  spurious  coins, 
which  were  so  well  executed  as  to  deceive  even  skill- 
ful judges  who  could  see.  John  Metcalf,  of  England, 
though  perfectly  blind,  became  an  efficient  surveyor.* 
II.  MR.  FELA,  of  Antwerp,  was  a  successful  painter. 
And  yet  he  had  no  hands  or  arms.  Insurmountable  as 
this  obstacle  might  seem  it  was  overcome  by  his  in- 
controllable  genius.  Holding  the  pencil  between  his 
toes  instead  of  his  fingers,  he  succeeded  better  than 
many  others  with  arms  and  hands,  but  destitute  of 
his  artistic  inspiration,  f 

*  Upham's  Mental  Philosophy,  pp.  60-65. 

fA  writer  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post  for  August  21,  1862,  thus 
refers  to  this  "  armless  painter  of  Antwerp. 

"A  little  over  a  year  ago  I  sauntered  one  day  into  the  museum  of 
that  quaint  and  clean  city,  and  from  lingering  here  and  there  before 
prim  Dutch  pictures,  my  attention  was  attracted  by  the  singular  move- 
ments of  a  person  in  the  distance  seated  before  his  easel.  The  thermo- 
meter was  somewhere  in  the  '  nineties,'  and  the  seated  artist  was  using 
his  /oofkerchief." 

"  Seat  yourself  on  an  ordinary  chair ;  doff  boots ;  so  trim  the  inner 
covering  .of  your  feet,  commonly  called  socks,  that  your  toes  will  be 
free  to  do  your  bidding ;  take  now  your  kerchief  between  the  toe  and 
'  index '  finger  of,  say  your  right  foot,  and  with  the  kerchief  so  held 
'cool  off'  and  dry  your  face,  the  back  part  of  your  head  and  your  neck 
fore  and  aft.  Transfer  now  the  kerchief  to  the  grasp  of  the  left  foot, 
and  let  a  like  /ooripulation  lie  gone  through  with  until  the  left  side  be 
made  comfortable,  and  you  will,  in  part,  have  done  what,  to  my  great 
astonishment,  that  armless  artis-t  Fela  accomplished  with  apparent 
ease." 

"Mr.  Fcla  was  copying  a  little  figure  from  a  group  by  an  old 
master.  His  picture  was  far  advanced  ;  he  worked  on  the  eye,  and  the 
delicacy  of  the  touch  t-opitiod  the  ni'i^t  marvellous  feat  of  his  feet  that  I 
saw  accomplished." 


HER   ENERGY    UNDER   DISABILITIES.  211 

III.  Miss  MARY  COLLINS  of  New  Jersey  had 
been  blind  from  infancy.  At  the  age  of  forty  she 
embraced  Christ  as  her  Saviour  and  hope,  and 
conceived  a  strong  desire  to  read  the  word  of  God. 
By  the  sale  of  ballads  of  her  own  composing  in 
the  streets  of  Philadelphia,  she  obtained  money  with 
which  to  procure  a  "spelling  book,"  in  raised  cha- 
racters, and  two  weeks'  tuition  in  some  school  for 
the  blind.  She  went  on,  studying  and  reading  with 
her  fingers,  till  she  had  mastered  the  alphabet,  and 
could  read  easy  words  and  sentences.  A  copy  of 
the  Psalms  in  raised  letters  was  then  procured  for 
her,  and  when  the  writer  saw  her  at  a  camp-meeting 
in  1841,  she  had  read  most  of  the  Psalms  several 
times  over. 

But  what  arrested  attention  more  than  anything 
else  was  that  all  her  fingers  were  wrapped  up, 
each  in  a  white  cloth,  except  one  on  each  hand, 
then  in  use  to  read  with;  and  on  opening  the  book 
of  Psalms,  whole  pages  were  found  stained,  line 
after  line,  with  blood!  The  tops  of  the  raised  let- 
ters, though  of  paper,  were  hard  and  sharp,  so 
that  in  a  short  time  they  wore  through  her  finger 
ends;  and  before  she  was  aware  of  it,  the  blood 
would  be  oozing  from  her  fingers,  as  she  was  feeling 
out  the  letters,  words  and  sentences,  line  after  line, 
and  drinking  in  divine  knowledge  therefrom,  as 
from  fountains  of  living  waters.  "  Blessed  be  the 
Lord  my  strength,"  she  exclaimed,  "which  teacheth 
my  hands  to  war  and  my  fingers  to  fight."  Ps. 
cxliv.  1. 

"Never,"  said  she,  "shall  I  forget  my  feelings 
when,  trying  to  read  a  little  in  a  raised  New  Testa- 


212  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

ment,  I  came  to  a  long  and  hard  word  which  I 
had  never  found  in  the  Psalms,  and  began  to  spell 
it  out,  r-e-s-u-r-r-e-c — and  it  flashed  upon  my  mind 
that  it  was  RESURRECTION  !  It  was  the  first  time  I 
had  ever  read  that  startling  word,  and  my  soul  was 
thrilled  as  by  an  electric  shock." 

She  spent  most  of  her  time  in  reading,  and  when 
one  set  of  fingers  were  worn  through,  and  became 
painful,  she  would  wrap  them  up  to  heal  a  little  and 
undo  the  next  best  pair.  Thus  she  kept  four  fingers 
on  each  hand,  almost  constantly  worn  through  and 
bleeding,  that  they  might  serve  as  eyes  to  convey 
to  the  soul  a  knowledge  of  the  form  of  the  letters, 
and  through  the  letters  and  words  a  knowledge  of  the 
mind  of  God.* 

Now  if  the  body  of  man  is  a  kind  of  galvanic 
battery,  and  intelligence  a  mere  result  of  certain 
material  combinations,  why  this  struggle  of  the  soul 
to  assert  herself,  when  her  natural  channels  of 
intercourse  with  the  outside  world  are  destroyed  ? 
Will  electricity  make  its  way  through  glass  if  a 
proper  conductor  be  wanting?  Will  light  penetrate 
sheet  iron  if  it  cannot  enter  or  escape  by  a  win- 
dow? And  if  intelligence,  after  all,  is  but  a  phe- 
nomenon of  matter  under  certain  conditions,  why 
does  it  spurn  all  material  laws,  and  cut  out  new 
channels  for  itself  where  its  natural  media  are  de- 
stroyed? 

All  this  fertility  of  resource — this  energy  of  the 

*  Such  cases  strongly  support  the  opinion  of  Diderot,  that  persons 
deprived  of  both  sight  and  hearing,  might  so  increase  the  sensibility 
of  touch  as  to  locate  the  soul  in  the  tips  of  the  fingers.  See  Upham't 
Mental  l'h;i.,*,,),hy,  p.  66. 


HER    ENERGY    UNDER    DISABILITIES.  213 

soul  amid  physical  adversity — is  but  an  advertise- 
ment of  her  unlikeness  to  anything  else  on  earth,  and 
a  token  of  the  subordination  of  the  body  to  the  spirit, 
and  the  relation  of  the  latter  to  an  enduring  and  an 
immortal  state  of  existence. 


214  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

UNIMPAIRED  MENTAL  POWERS  UNDER  BODILY  MUTILA- 
TIONS. 

THE  ability  of  the  soul  to  retain  all  her  faculties 
unimpaired  while  the  body  is  subjected  to  great  muti- 
lation, is  a  striking  proof  of  her  independence,  and 
of  her  immortal  destination. 

I.  If  the  mind  were  material  and  mortal  like  the 
body,  or  rather,  were  it  a  mere  phase  of  a  bodily 
function,  as   materialism   assumes,   not  only  should 
intelligence  be  in  all  cases  in  exact   proportion   to 
the  size  and  power  of  the  body,  and  ebb  and  flow  as 
health  fades  or  returns;  but  every  case  of  physical 
mutilation  should  be  attended  with  a  corresponding 
loss  of  intelligence.     The  loss  of  an  arm  or  a  leg 
should  be  just  so  much  abstracted  from  the  mind  of 
the  subject. 

II.  But  such  is  not  the  case.    A  survivor  of  the  wars  of 
the  first  Napoleon  lost  an  eye,  an  arm,  a  leg,  and  a  piece 
of  his  skull,  (which  was  substituted  by  a  silver  plate,) 
and  yet  not  a  thought  was  lost,  neither  was  there  the 
slightest  diminution  of  intelligence.     In  the  battles 
of  the  late  rebellion  of  1861,  one  man  lost  both  arms, 
and    both   legs,  but   lost   none  of  his    grammar,  or 
geography,   or   military  tactics.     He  was   conscious 


UNIMPAIRED    BY    BODILY    MUTILATIONS.          215 

that  his  soul  was  still  entire  and  unimpaired,  though 
the  body  in  which  it  dwelt  was  reduced  to  an  inert 
and  unseemly  trunk  of  human  flesh.  How,  then,  are 
we  deceived  by  our  very  consciousness,  if  the  mind, 
by  remaining  intact  amid  such  physical  mutilation 
does  not  thereby  indicate  her  independence  of  the 
body,  and  her  destination  for  immortality.* 

III.  But  it  may  be  replied  that  the  brain  is  the 
thinking  power  and  the  seat  of  knowledge,  and  con- 
sequently the  loss  of  the  legs  and  arms  ought  not  to 
affect  the  intelligence.  Let  us  see :  the  spinal  marrow 
is  but  an  elongation  of  the  brain,  and  is  of  the  same 
medullary  substance.  And  so  of  all  the  nerves  that 
branch  off  from  it,  from  the  head  to  the  pelvis  ; — they 
are  all  of  the  same  general  substance  as  the  brain. 
While,  therefore,  the  amount  of  cerebral  matter  in 
the  limbs  is  much  less  than  is  left  in  the  cavity  of  the 
skull,  it  is  certainly  an  appreciable  amount,  as  com- 
pared with  the  whole, — an  amount  the  loss  of  which 
ought  sensibly  to  affect  the  intellect,  if  materialism  be 
true.  For  if  brain  is  all  the  soul  man  possesses,  and 
the  nerves  are  in  reality  a  part  of  the  brain,  then 
whoever  loses  part  of  his  nervous  system  by  the  loss 
of  a  limb,  inevitably  loses  part  of  his  brain  power,  or 

*  A  young  officer  in  the  British  army  had  engaged  himself  in  mar- 
riage to  a  young  lady  in  England,  before  embarking  for  this  country. 
While  here,  he  was  wounded  and  lost  a  leg.  He  accordingly  wrote  his 
affianced  bride  that  he  was  maimed  and  disfigured,  and  so  different 
from  what  he  was  when  the  engagement  was  formed,  that  he  felt  it  his 
duty  to  release  her  from  all  obligation  to  become  his  wife.  To  this 
manly  and  honorable  letter  the  lady  returned  the  equally  noble  reply, 
that  she  was  willing  to  marry  him  if  there  teas  enough  of  hit  body  Itft  to 
hold  his  soul, — a  reply  that  indicated  her  appreciation  of  the  two-fold 
nature  of  man,  and  the  subordinate  importance  of  the  body  to  the  im- 
mortal spirit. 


216  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

soul,  and  should  know  less  and  have  less  mental 
capacity  than  before  the  amputation.  But  as  this  is 
not  the  case,  it  follows  that  though  the  mind  may 
"operate  through  the  nervous  system,  it  is  nevertheless 
distinct  from  that  system,  and  may  survive,  though 
that  may  perish. 

IV.  Even  the  brain  itself  may  be  extensively  dis- 
eased, if  not  wholly  removed,  without  affecting  the 
reasoning  faculties.  - 

Bishop  Clark  refers  to  a  case  mentioned  by  Aber- 
crombie  in  which  one  half  of  the  entire  brain  of  a 
lady  had  been  reduced  to  a  mass  of  suppuration  by 
disease,  and  yet  she  had  retained  her  faculties  to  the 
last,  and  had  been  enjoying  herself  at  a  convivial 
party  only  a  few  hours  before  her  sudden  death.  He 
also  cites  a  case  mentioned  by  Dr.  Ferrier  in  which  a 
man  who  died  suddenly,  but  who  had  retained  all  his 
faculties  unimpaired  till  the  moment  of  death,  was 
found  upon  examination  to  have  a  brain  the  right 
hemisphere  of  which  was  destroyed  by  suppuration.* 

"  The  celebrated  Saussure  was  affected  with  exten- 
sive disorganization  of  the  brain  for  the  space  of  five 
years,  without  any  sensible  alteration  of  the  intellec- 
tual powers.  Mr.  Howship  relates  a  case  where,  in 
consequence  of  a  slight  blow  on  the  head,  the  whole 
lobe  of  the  brain  was  found  in  a  state  of  scirrhus 
forty  years  afterward.  But  with  the  exception  of  oc- 
casional pain,  the  subject  had  no  other  symptoms  till 
towards  the  decline  of  life,  when  she  became  gradu- 
ally sleepy  and  stupid. 

"  A  lad  aged  eleven  years  received  a  kick  from  a 
horse,  which  fractured  the  frontal  bone.  In  two  hours 

*  Man  all  Immortal,  p.  64. 


UNIMPAIRED   BY   BODILY   MUTILATION.          217 

after,  he  recovered  every  faculty  of  his  mind,  and 
they  continued  vigorous  for  six  weeks,  and  to  an  hour 
of  his  death,  which  took  place  on  the  forty-third  day. 
He  sat  up  every  day,  often  walked  to  the  window, 
frequently  laughed  at  the  gambols  of  the  boys  in  the 
streets,  &c.  On  dissection,  the  space  of  the  skull 
previously  occupied  by  the  right  anterior  and  middle 
lobes  of  the  cerebrum,  presented  a  perfect  cavity,  filled 
with  sero-purulent  matter,  the  lobe  having  been  de- 
stroyed by  suppuration.  The  third  lobe  was  much 
disorganized.  The  left  hemisphere  was  in  a  state  of 
ramollissement  (or  softening)  down  to  the  corpus  cal- 
losum."* 

To  the  same  effect  is  the  celebrated  case  recorded 
by  O'Halloran,  where  there  was  great  destruction  of 
the  brain  without  any  derangement  of  the  intellect. 

"  The  whole  brain,"  says  Dr.  Payne,  "  may  be 
sliced  down  to  the  medulla  oblongata,  or  beginning  of 
the  spinal  cord,  without  affecting,  at  the  time,  the  or- 
ganic functions,  "f 

"  Morgagni  and  Haller,"  says  Bishop  Clark,  "claim 
to  have  ascertained  by  a  wide  induction  of  facts,  that 
every  part  of  the  brain  has  been  found-to  be  destroyed 
or  disorganized,  in  one  instance  or  another,  while  yet 
the  individuals  have  not  been  deprived  of  mind,  or 
even  affected  in  their  intellectual  powers. "f 

"  M.  Flouren's  experiments,"  says  Dr.  Moore,  "  are 
too  numerous  and  extensive  to  quote  ;  but  they  prove 

that  the  brain  may  be  destroyed  to  a  large  extent,  in 

s 

*  Medical  and  Physiological  Commentaries,  Vol.  2,  p.  139,  note ;  also 
Payne  on  the  Soul  and  Instinct,  note,  p.  90. 
f  Payne  on  the  Soul,  Instinct  and  Life,  p.  36. 
J  Man  all  Immortal,  pp.  63,  64. 


218  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

any  direction,  without  destroying  any  of  its  func- 
tions."* 

Such  instances  not  only  disprove  the  fundamental 
assumptions  of  Phrenology,  but  they  equally  overthrow 
materialism  in  general,  and  foreshadow  an  immortal 
life  for  the  spirit,  by  indicating  her  ability  to  live  on 
undisturbed  in  her  functions  not  only  while  the  body 
is  mutilated,  or  wasted  by  disease,  but  even  while  her 
most  vital  medium  of  connection  with  the  material 
world  is  more  or  less  removed,  indurated  or  dissolved. 

"  The  mutilations  which  the  human  body  under- 
goes," says  Chalmers,  "and  yet  without  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  living  powers,  warrant  the  conclusion, 
not  that  the  soul  must,  but  that  the  soul  may  survive 
the  entire  dissolution  of  that  material  frame-work 
wherewith  it  is  now  encompassed,  "f 

»  "  Soul  and  Body,"  p.  54. 

f  Lectures  on  Butler's  Analogy,  Posthumous  works,  Vol.  2,  p.  62. 


BEVERY,  DREAMING  AND  CATALEPSY.  219 


CHAPTER  X. 

REVERY,  SLEEP,  DREAMING  AND  CATALEPSY. 

IN  the  previous  chapter  we  have  called  attention  to 
a  variety  of  physical  and  mental  phenomena,  exhibi- 
ted by  the  body  and  mind  in  their  present  state  of 
union,  and  which  go  to  prove  the  distinct  spiritual  na- 
ture of  the  latter,  and  its  power  to  survive  the  decay 
of  the  body,  and  live  on,  with  all  its  functions  unim- 
paired, when  the  body  is  dissolved.  In  continuation 
of  the  same  general  topic — the  relations  of  the  soul 
to  the  body — let  us  now  look  at  another  class  of  phe- 
nomena, namely,  those  that  occur  in  revery,  sleep, 
dreaming,  catalepsy,  &c.,  and  see  if  they  also  do  not 
all  converge  to  the  same  point,  and  furnish  strong 
presumptive  proof  that  the  spirit  of  man  is  immortal. 

I.  "Revery,"  says  Dr.  Good,  "is  the  dream »f  a 
man  while  awake.  He  is  so  intently  bent  upon  a  par- 
ticular train  of  thought,  that  he  is  torpid  to  every 
thing  else  :  he  sees  nothing,  he  hears  nothing,  he  feels 
nothing;  and  the  only  difference  between  the  two, 
(revery  and  dreaming)  is,  that  in  common  dreaming, 
the  sensitive  and  irritative  power  of  the  external 
senses  is  exhausted  progressively  and  generally,  while 
the  will  partakes  of  the  exhaustion ;  and  that  in  rev- 
ery the  whole  is  directed  to  a  single  outlet,  the  will, 


220  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE   SOUL. 

instead  of  being  exhausted,  being  riveted  upon  this 
one  point  alone ;  and  the  external  senses  being  alone 
rendered  torpid  from  the  drain  that  is  thus  made  upon 
them  to  support  the  superabundant  flow  of  a  sensitive 
and  irritative  power  expended  upon  the  prevailing 
ecstacy."* 

The  celebrated  Rittenhouse  was  so  absorbed  in  wit- 
nessing the  transit  of  Venus  across  the  sun's  disc  in 
1799  as  to  lose  all  control  over  his  muscular  system, 
and  become  helpless  in  the  observatory.  Another 
modern  astronomer  passed  a  whole  night  in  his  obser- 
vatory, witnessing  a  celestial  phenomenon,  and  on  be- 
ing accosted  in  the  morning  replied  that  he  would  go 
to  bed  before  it  was  late.  He  had  gazed  the  whole 
night  and  did  not  know  it. 

The  mathematician  Viote  was  sometimes  so  ab- 
sorbed by  his  calculations  that  he  has  been  known  to 
pass  three  days  and  three  nights  without  food.  It  is 
related  of  the  Italian  poet  Marini,  that  while  he  was 
intensely  engaged  in  revising  his  Adonis,  he  placed  his 
leg  on  the  fire,  where  it  burned  for  some  time  without 
his  being  aware  of  it.f 

Such  cases  seem  almost  incredible,  and  yet  they 
can  scarce  be  doubted.  Budhist  devotees  so  far  ab- 
stract themselves  as  not  only  to  endure  what  would 
cause  extreme  suffering  to  others  without  the  least  ap- 
parent pain,  but  also  to  become  unconscious  of  all 
bodily  existence. 

II.  Look  also  at  the  phenomenon  of  sleep.  Sup- 
pose, instead  of  the  present  order  of  things,  it  had 
been  ordained  that  man  should  sleep  only  once  a  year, 

*  Book  of  Nature,  p.  253. 

f  Moore's  Power  of  the  Soul,  <fcc.,  p.  105. 


REVERY,  DREAMING  AND   CATALEPSY.  221 

and  then  only  for  a  few  hours  ;  and  suppose  men  had 
lived  a  year  without  any  experience  or  knowledge, 
upon  the  subject  before  the  first  instance  of  sleep  oc- 
curred. At  length  one  of  their  number  begins  to 
grow  languid,  ceases  to  talk,  seeks  a  couch  as  if  sick, 
his  eyes  close,  and  he  becomes  inactive.  In  vain  is 
he  called  upon  to  explain  the  difficulty — he  neither 
sees  nor  hears.  All  intelligence  is  as  perfectly  sup- 
pressed for  the  time  being  as  if  he  were  dead. 

Now  in  the  absence  of  experience  what  reason 
would  his  comrades  have  for  supposing  he  would 
ever  again  awake  to  consciousness  and  intelligence? 
Would  not  the  natural  inference  rather  be  that  all 
thought  and  knowledge  were  at  an  end  forever  ? 

"  What  can  possibly  be  more  opposite  to  each 
other,"  says  John  Mason  Good,  "than  the  two  states 
of  wakefulness  and  sleep? — the  senses  in  full  vigor 
and  activity,  alive  to  every  pursuit,  and  braced  up  to 
every  exertion, — and  a  suspension  of  all  sense  what- 
ever, a  looseness  and  inertness  of  the  voluntary 
powers,  so  nearly  akin  to  death,  that  nothing  but  a 
daily  experience  of  the  fact  itself  could  justify  us  in 
expecting  that  we  should  ever  recover  from  it."  * 

And  yet  in  a  short  time  the  sleeper  awakes,  and  is 
more  vigorous  and  active  than  before.  A  mysterious 
change  has  come  over  the  body,  but  the  mind  still 
lives  on — a  natural  intimation  that  it  may  survive 
still  greater  changes,  and  live  even  when  we  sleep 
our  last  sleep,  and  the  body  is  dissolved. 

III.  But  the  activity  and  achievements  of  the  mind, 
at  times,  in  what  are  called  dreams,  is  perhaps  still 
more  pertinent  to  the  subject  under  consideration. 

*  Book  of  Nature,  Sec.  vii.  p.  243. 


222  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

A  student  retires  to  bed  perplexed  with  a  difficult, 
problem,  and  perhaps  despairing  of  its  solution.  He 
falls  asleep  and  in  a  dream  solves  the  problem,  and 
on  waking  finds  his  solution  correct.  A  mechanic  or 
inventor  is  in  trouble  about  some  piece  of  machinery, 
and  in  that  state  of  mind  retires  to  rest.  He  falls 
asleep,  but  the  mind  goes  on  with  its  operations,  and 
in  a  dream,  he  sees  how  the  difficulty  may  be  obviated, 
and  that  very  idea,  reached  while  the  body  was 
asleep,  may  be  the  most  important  item  in  a  valuable 
invention  and  patent. 

"A  gentleman  engaged  in  a  banking  establishment 
made  an  error  in  his  account,  and,  after  an  interval 
of  several  months,  spent  days  and  nights  in  vain 
endeavors  to  discover  where  the  mistake  lay.  At 
length,  worn  out  by  fatigue,  he  went  to  bed,  and  in  a 
dream  recollected  all  the  circumstances  that  gave  rise 
to  the  error.  He  remembered  that  on  a  certain  day 
several  persons  were  waiting  in  the  bank,  when  one 
individual,  who  was  a  most  amazing  stammerer,  be- 
came so  excessively  impatient  and  noisy  that,  to  get 
rid  of  him,  his  money  was  paid  before  his  turn,  and 
the  entrance  of  this  sum  was  neglected,  and  thus 
arose  the  deficiency  in  the  account."  * 

"  Tartini,  a  celebrated  violin  player,  composed  his 
famous  Devils  Sonata  while  he  dreamed  that  the 
devil  challenged  him  to  a  trial  of  skill,  on  his  own 
violin.  Cabanis  often,  during  his  dreams,  saw  clearly 
into  the  bearing  of  political  events  which  baffled  him 
when  awake.  Condorcet  frequently  left  his  deep  and 
complicated  calculations  unfinished  when  obliged  to 

*  Moore's  Soul  and  Body,  p.  117. 


REVERY,    DREAMING    AXD    CATALEPSY.  223 

retire  to  rest,  and  found  their  results  unfolded  in  his 
dreams."* 

"I  have  formerly  referred,"  says  Abercrombie, 
"to  some  remarkable  cases  in  which  languages  long 
forgotten  were  recovered  during  a  state  of  delirium. 
Something  very  analogous  seems  to  occur  in  dream- 
ing, of  which  I  have  received  the  following  example 
from  an  able  and  intelligent  friend.  In  his  youth  he 
was  very  fond  of  the  Greek  language,  and  made  con- 
siderable progress  in  it ;  but  afterwards,  being  actively 
engaged  in  other  pursuits,  he  so  entirely  forgot  it 
that  he  could  not  even  read  the  words.  But  he  has 
often  dreamed  of  reading  Greek  works  which  he  had 
been  accustomed  to  use  at  college,  and  with  a  most 
vivid  impression  of  fully  understanding  them."  f 

Sir  John  Herschell,  the  famous  astronomer,  de- 
clared that  the  following  stanza  was  composed  by 
him  while  asleep  and  dreaming  November  28,  1841, 
and  written  down  immediately  on  waking: — 

Throw  thyself  on  thy  God,  nor  mock  him  with  feeble  denial  ? 

Sure  of  his  love,  and  oh !  sure  of  his  mercy  at  last ; 
Bitter  and  deep  though  the  draught,  yet  shun  not  the  cup  of  thy  trial, 

But  in  its  healing  effect,  smile  at  its  bitterness  past. 

Coleridge,  the  poet,  says  that  as  he  was  once  read- 
ing in  the  Pilgrimage  of  Purehas  an  a-ccount  of  the 
palace  and  garden  of  Khan  Kubla,  he  fell  into  a 
sleep,  and  in  that  situation  composed  an  entire  poem 
of  not  less  than  two  hundred  lines,  some  of  which  he 
afterwards  committed  to  writing.  The  poem  is  en- 
titled Kubla  Khan,  and  begins  as  follows: 

-  Moore's  Soul  and  Body.  p.  *2. 
f  Intellectual  Philosophy,  p.  205. 


224  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

In  Hanadu  did  Kubla  Khan 
A  stately  pleasure  dome  decree; 
Where  Alph,  the  sacred  river,  ran 
Through  caverns  measureless  to  man 
Down  to  a  sunless  sea.* 

And  how  often  is  it  the  case  that  the  mind  keeps 
up  its  exertions  during  our  sleeping  hours  to  such  an 
extent  that  we  feel  oppressed  with  fatigue  on  waking, 
as  if  we  had  been  toiling  rather  than  sleeping. 

Now  upon  the  hypothesis  that  the  body  and  mind 
are  alike  material,  how  are  these  things  to  be  ac- 
counted for?  The  body  is  at  rest,  why  is  not  the 
spirit?  Why,  when  the  body  is  prostrate  and  quiet 
does  the  soul  seem  often  to  seize  the  occasion,  to 
roam  abroad  into  unexplored  regions,  and  hear,  and 
see,  and  act,  and  suffer,  or  rejoice,  without  the  inter- 
vention of  material  organs  ?  Surely  this  is  a  strange 
phenomenon  if  the  body  and  mind  are  identical,  and 
the  soul  is  destined  now  and  hereafter  to  share  the 
fate  of  its  material  tenement.  Should  not  our  very 
dreams  by  night  instruct  us  that  we  have  within 
these  changing  bodies  of  ours  a  living  active  principle 
— a  spirit — which  disdains  implicit  obedience  to  physi- 
cal laws,  refuses  to  share  in  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
material  body — to  rest  when  it  rests,  and  die  when  it 
dies, — and  may,  therefore,  live  on  when  the  body 
shall  crumble  back  to  dust. 

"  Her  ceaseless  flight,  though  devious,  speaks  her  nature 
Of  subtler  essence  than  the  trodden  clod; 
Active,  ethereal,  towering,  unconfined, 
Unfettered  with  her  gross  companion's  fall ; — 
Even  silent  night  proclaims  my  soul  immortal : 
Even  silent  night  proclaims  eternal  day." 

*  Upham's  Mental  Philosophy,  p.  108. 


REVERY,    DREAMING    AND    CATALEPSY.  225 

IV.  The  conscious  activity  of  the  soul  while  the 
body  is  in  a  state  of  trance,  or  catalepsy,  is  another 
indication  of  her  independency  of  the  body,  and  her 
probable  immortality. 

"We  have  all  heard  and  read,"  says  Dr.  Good, 
'•of  such  extraordinary  occurrences  of  trances,  or 
apparent  absences  of  the  soul  from  the  body;  we 
have  heard  and  read  of  persons  who,  after  having 
been  apparently  dead  for  many  days,  and  on  the 
point  of  being  buried,  have  returned  to  a  full  pos- 

ttion  of  life  and  health;  and  although  most  of 
these  histories  are  wrapped  up  in  so  much  mystery 
and  superstition,  as  to  be  altogether  unworthy  of 
notice,  there  are  many  too  cautiously  drawn  up  and 
authenticated  to  be  dismissed  in  so  cursory  a  man- 
ner."* 

In  the  early  history  of  "camp  meetings"  in  this 
country  instances  of  catalepsy  induced  by  religious 
excitement  were  frequent.  In  those  cases  all  the 
animal  functions  were  suspended;  the  countenance 
was  pale  as  a  corpse;  the  body  grew  stiff  and  cold; 
and  nearly  every  indication  of  death  appeared.  And 
yet  during  these  periods  the  subject  was  usually  in- 
tensely conscious,  and  upon  recovery  would  describe 
the  activity  and  the  experiences  of  the  mind  during 
that  strange  parenthesis,  in  the  most  glowing  lan- 
guage. But  perhaps  no  one  case  will  more  fully 
illustrate  this  general  subject,  than  that  of  REV. 
W.M.  TENNEXT,  a  Presbyterian  minister  of  Free- 
hold, N.  J. 

"  He  was  conversing  one  morning  with  his  brother, 
in  Latin,  on  the  state  of  the  soul,  when  he  fainted 

*  Book  of  Nature,  p.  252, 
15 


22(5  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

and  died  away.  After  the  usual  time  he  was  laid  out 
on  a  board,  according  to  the  common  practice  of  the 
country,  and  the  neighborhood  were  invited  to  attend 
the  funeral  on  the  next  day.  In  the  evening  his  phy- 
sician and  friend  returned  from  a  ride  into  the  coun- 
try, and  was  afflicted  beyond  measure  at  the  news  of 
his  death.  He  could  not  be  persuaded  that  it  was 
certain ;  and,  on  being  told  that  one  of  the  persons 
who  had  assisted  in  laying  out  the  body  thought  he 
had  observed  a  little  tremor  of  the  flesh  under  the 
arm,  although  the  body  was  cold  and  stiff,  he  endea- 
vored to  ascertain  the  fact.  He  first  put  his  own 
hand  into  warm  water,  to  make  it  as  sensitive  as  pos- 
sible, and  then  felt  under  the  arm,  and  at  the  heart, 
and  affirmed  that  he  felt  an  unusual  warmth,  though 
no  one  else  could. 

"  He  had  the  body  restored  to  a  warm  bed,  and  in- 
sisted that  the  people  who  had  been  invited  to  the  fu- 
neral, should  be  requested  not  to  attend.  To  this  the 
brother  objected  as  absurd,  the  eyes  being  sunk,  the 
lips  discolored,  and  the  whole  body  cold  and  stiff. 
However,  the  doctor  finally  prevailed,  and  all  proba- 
ble means  were  used  to  discover  symptoms  of  return- 
ing life.  But  the  third  day  arrived,  and  no  hopes 
were  entertained  of  success  but  by  the  doctor,  who 
never  left  him  night  or  day.  The  people  were  again 
invited,  and  assembled  to  attend  the  funeral.  The 
doctor  still  objected,  and  at  last  confined  his  request 
for  delay  to  one  hour,  then  to  half  an  hour,  and  finally 
to  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

"  He  had  discovered  that  the  tongue  was  much 
swollen,  and  threatened  to  crack.  He  was  c  mleavor- 
ing  to  soften  it  by  some  emollient  ointment,  put  upon 


REVERT,  DREAM  INt;    AM)  CATALEPSY.  'Jl27 

it  with  a  feather,  when  the  brother  came  in,  about  the 
expiration  of  the  last  period,  and  mistaking  what  the 
doctor  was  doing  for  an  attempt  to  feed  him,  mani- 
fested some  resentment,  and  said,  in  a  spirited  tone, 
4  It  is  shameful  to  be  feeding  a  lifeless  corpse  ;'  and 
insisted,  with  earnestness,  that  the  funeral  should  im- 
mediately proceed. 

"  At  this  critical  and  important  moment,  the  body, 
to  the  great  alarm  and  astonishment  of  all  present, 
opened  its  eyes,  gave  a  dreadful  groan,  and  sank 
again  into  apparent  death.  This  put  an  end  to  all 
thought  of  burying  him,  and  every  effort  was  again 
employed,  in  hopes  of  bringing  about  a  speedy  resus- 
citation. In  about  an  hour,  the  eyes  again  opened,  a 
heavy  groan  proceeded  from  the  body,  and  again  all 
appearance  of  animation  vanished.  In  another  hour 
life  seemed  to  return  with  more  power,  and  a  complete 
revival  took  place,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  family  and 
friends,  and  to  the  no  small  astonishment  and  convic- 
tion of  the  very  many  who  had  been  ridiculing  the 
idea  of  restoring  to  life  a  dead  body."* 

"  The  writer  of  these  memoirs,"  says  his  biogra- 
.pher,  "  was  greatly  interested  by  these  uncommon 
events  ;  and  on  a  favorable  occasion,  earnestly  pressed 
^ft.  Tennent  for  a  minute  account  of  what  his  views 
and  apprehensions  were,  while  he  lay  in  this  extraor- 
dinary state  of  suspended  animation.  He  discovered 
great  reluctance  to  enter  into  any  explanation  of  his 
perceptions  and  feelings  at  that  time ;  but  being  im- 
portunately urged  to  do  it,  he  at  length  consented, 
and  proceeded  with  a  solemnity  not  to  be  described : 

"  While  I  was  conversing  with   my   brother,"  s  a  id 

*  Life  of  Rev.  William  Tennent,  pp.  23,  24. 


228  THE    1MMUKTAL1TY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

he,  "  on  the  state  of  my  soul,  and  the  fears  I  had  en- 
tertained for  my  future  welfare,  I  found  myself,  in 
an  instant,  in  another  state  of  existence,  under  the 
direction  of  a  superior  being,  who  ordered  me  to  fol- 
low him.  I  was  accordingly  wafted  along,  I  know 
not  how,  till  I  beheld  at  a  distance  an  ineffable  glory, 
the  impression  of  which  on  my  mind  it  is  impossible 
to  communicate  to  mortal  man.  I  immediately  reflect- 
ed on  my  happy  change,  and  thought — Well,  blessed 
be  God  !  I  am  safe  at  last,  notwithstanding  all  my 
fears.  I  saw  an  innumerable  host  of  happy  beings, 
surrounding  the  inexpressible  glory,  in  acts  of  adora- 
tion and  joyous  worship  ;  but  I  did  not  see  any  bodily 
shape  or  representation  in  the  glorious  appearance. 
I  heard  things  unutterable.  I  heard  their  songs  and 
hallelujahs  of  thanksgiving  and  praise,  with  unspeak- 
able rapture.  I  felt  joy  unutterable  and  full  of  glory. 
I  then  applied  to  my  conductor,  and  requested  leave 
to  join  the  happy  throng ;  on  which  he  tapped  me  on 
the  shoulder  and  said,  '  You  must  return  to  the  earth.' 
This  seemed  like  a  sword  through  my  heart.  In  an 
instant  I  recollected  to  have  seen  my  brother  standing 
before  me  disputing  with  the  doctor.  The  three  days 
during  which  I  had  appeared  lifeless,  seemed  to  me 
to  be  not  more  than  ten  or  twenty  minutes.  The  idea 
of  returning  to  this  world  of  sorrow  and  trouble  gave 
me  such  a  shock  that  I  fainted  repeatedly. 

"  Such  was  the  effect  on  my  mind  of  what  I  had 
seen  and  heard,  that  if  it  be  possible  for  a  human  be- 
ing to  live  entirely  above  the  world  and  the  things  of 
it,  for  sometime  afterward,  I  was  that  person.  The 
ravishing  sounds  of  the  songs  and  hallelujahs  that  I 
heard,  and  the  very  words  that  were  uttered,  were  not 


REVERY,    DREAMING    AND    CATALEPSY.  229 

out  of  my  ears,  when  awake,  for  at  least  three  years. 
All  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  were  in  my  sight  aa 
nothing  and  vanity ;  and  so  great  were  my  ideas  of 
heavenly  glory,  that  nothing  which  did  not  in  some 
measure  relate  to  it,  could  command  my  serious  at- 
tention."* 

How  strikingly  does  such  a  narrative  remind  one 
of  the  trance  of  Peter,  Acts  x.  10,  and  of  the  words 
of  Paul,  2  Cor.  xii.  2-4:  "I  knew  a  man  in  Christ 
about  fourteen  years  ago,  (whether  in  the  body,  I  can- 
not tell ;  or  whether  out  of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell : 
God  knoweth ;)  such  an  one  caught  up  to  the  third 
heaven.  And  I  knew  such  a  man,  (whether  in  the 
body,  or  out  of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell :  God  know- 
eth ;)  How  that  he  was  caught  up  into  paradise,  and 
heard  unspeakable  words,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a 
man  to  utter." 

What  reason  have  we  for  doubting  that  the  trance 
of  Mr.  Tennent  was  similar  to  that  of  St.  Paul,  and 
that  in  both  instances  the  soul  was  temporarily  sepa- 
rated from  the  body  ?  We  base  no  argument  on  this 
assumption,  however,  being  content  with  the  indispu- 
table fact  in  all  these  cases,  that  the  mind  is  conscious 
and  active  though  the  body  is  apparently  dead. 

V.  Persons  resuscitated  from  apparent  drowning 
often  relate  similar  experiences  of  the  consciousness 
and  activity  of  the  mind,  while  every  animal  function 
of  the  body  was  suspended.  Memory,  will,  conscious- 
ness, hope  and  fear  were  as  active  as  if  the  body  was 
in  its  normal  state,  and  all  its  functions  in  active 
play. 

VI.  In  other  instances,  though  the  heart  and  lungs, 

*  Life  of  Tencfent,  pp.  28-31. 


230  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

which  are  among  the  most  vital  portions  of  the  human 
frame,  have  ceased  to  perform  their  functions,  and 
have  continued  inactive  for  a  greater  or  less  period 
of  time,  the  mind  has  retained  not  only  its  conscious- 
ness, but  the  unimpaired  use  of  all  its  faculties  and 
powers.  Take  the  following  instance  copied  from  the 
Book  of  Nature  by  Dr.  John  Mason  Good,  as  an  illus- 
tration in  point : 

"  In  the  year  1769,  Mr.  John  Hunter,  being  then 
forty-one  years  of  age,  of  a  sound  constitution,  and 
subject  to  no  disease  except  a  casual  fit  of  the  gout, 
was  suddenly  attacked  with  a  pain  in  the  stomach, 
which  was  shortly  succeeded  by  a  total  suspension  of 
the  action  of  the  heart  and  lungs.  By  the  power  of 
the  will,  or  rather  by  violent  striving,  he  occasionally 
inflated  the  lungs,  but  over  the  heart  he  had  no  con- 
trol whatever ;  nor,  though  he  was  attended  by  four 
of  the  chief  physicians  in  London  from  the  first,  could 
the  action  of  either  be  restored  by  medicine.  In 
about  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  however,  the  vital 
actions  began  to  return  of  their  own  accord,  and  in 
two  hours  he  was  perfectly  recovered. 

"In  this  attack,"  observed  Mr.  (now  Sir  Everard) 
Home,  who  has  given  an  interesting  memoir  of  his 
life,  "  there  was  a  suspension  of  the  most  material 
involuntary  actions  ;  even  involuntary  breathing  was 
stopped;  while  sensation,  with  its  consequences,  as 
thinking  and  acting,  with  the  will,  were  perfect,  and 
all  the  voluntary  actions  were  as  strong  as  before." 

"In  the  whole  history  of  man,"  continued  Dr. 
Good,  "  I  do  not  know  of  a  more  extraordinary  case. 
The  functions  of  the  soul  were  perfect,  while  the  most 
important  functions  of  the  body,  those  upon  which 


REVERY,  DREAMING   AND  CATALEPSY.  231 

life  depends  absolutely,  in  all  ordinary  cases',  were 
dead  for  nearly  an  hour.  Why  did  not  the  soul  de- 
part from  the  body  ?  and  why  did  not  the  body  itself 
commence  that  change,  that  subjection  to  the  laws  of 
chemical  affinity  which  it  evinces  in  every  ordinary 
case  of  the  death  or  inaction  of  the  vital  organs  ? 
Because  in  the  present  instance,  as  in  every  instance 
of  suspended  animation  from  hanging  or  drowning, 
the  vital  principle,  whatever  it  consists  in,  had  not 
ceased,  or  deserted  the  corporeal  frame.  It  continued 
visible  in  its  effect,  though  invisible  in  its  essence 
and  mode  of  operation."* 

Is  there  no  significance  in  all  these  facts  ?  How 
strikingly  do  they  comport  with  and  corroborate  the 
revealed  doctrine  of  the  soul's  immortality.  And 
how  completely  do  they  refute  the  opposite  idea  that 
the  mind  is  merely  a  function  of  the  body,  necessarily 
sharing  its  condition  of  quiescence  or  activity,  and 
doomed  to  perish  when  the  body  dies.  Ah,  no  ! 

Cold  in  the  dust  this  perished  heart  may  lie, 
But  that  which  warmed  it  once  shall  never  die. 

*  Book  of  Nature,  pp.  253,  254. 


232  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

VIGOR   AND  ACTIVITY  OF   THE   SOUL   IN   THE   HOUR   OP 
DEATH. 

Life  makes  the  soul  dependent  on  the  dust, 
Death  gives  her  wings  to  mount  above  the  spheres. 

THE  vigor  and  activity  of  the  soul  in  the  hour  of 
death,  and  amid  bodily  dissolution,  is  an  evidence 
of  its  independency  of  the  body,  and  its  consequent 
immortality. 

I.  The  history  of  the  Christian  martyrs  furnishes 
many  striking  illustrations  of  the  power  of  the  soul 
to  rise  superior  to  the  terrors  of  death,  and  the 
agony  of  bodily  dissolution,  and  show  herself  essen- 
tially indestructible  and  immortal. 

Polycarp  sang  hymns  of  praise  to  God  while  his 
body  was  being  consumed  by  the  fires  of  martyrdom. 
While  John  Huss  was  being  burned  he  sang  a  hymn 
with  so  loud  and  cheerful  a  voice  that  it  was  heard 
above  the  crackling  of  the  fagots,  and  the  noise  of 
the  multitude.  Jerome  of  Prague  sang  amid  the 
flames  of  martyrdom  till  his  voice  was  stifled  by 
them. 

"Thus  we  hear  Lambert  while  consuming  by  a 
slow  fire,  exclaiming,  'None  but  Christ!  none  but 
Christ!'  Thus  also  died  Cranmer — the  soul  triumph- 


VIGOR   AMID   BODILY  DISSOLUTION.  233 

ing  over  all  that  was  terrible  in  bodily  suffering — 
steadily  hold  his  hand  in  the  flame,  and  exclaim, 
while  it  is  being  consumed,  'This  hand!  this  wicked 
hand.' 

"  So  also  Mrs.  Cecily  Ormes,  who  was  added  to  the 
noble  host  of  martyrs  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-two. 
Approaching  the  stake,  already  charred  by  the  fires 
that  had  consumed  two  martyrs  before  her,  she 
clasped  it  with  her  hands,  exclaiming,  'Welcome! 
welcome,  Cross  of  Christ!' 

"But  a  still  more  striking  instance  of  the  triumph 
of  the  soul  over  the  body  is  the  case  of  James  Bain- 
ham.  When  his  legs  and  his  arms  were  half  con- 
sumed, and  his  body  scorched  and  seething  in  the 
flame,  he  cried  out  to  the  bystanders,  'Ye  look  for 
miracles !  Here,  now,  ye  may  see  one.  This  fre  is 
to  me  a  bed  of  roses.' 

"  Before  being  led  to  the  stake,  Mr.  Hawkes  agreed 
with  his  friends  upon  a  signal  by  which  to  express 
his  feelings  when  he  should  be  no  longer  capable  of 
speech.  When  he  was  so  nearly  consumed  that  all 
thought  him  dead,  and  when  his  whole  body  was 
crisped  with  the  fire,  the  skin  of  his  arms  drawn  up, 
and  his  fingers  literally  consumed,  suddenly  seeming 
to  recollect  the  appointed  signal,  he  raised  his  finger- 
less  hands  above  his  head  and  clapped  them  three 
times  in  token  of  triumph."* 

Thus  triumphed  many  of  the  martyrs,  while  their 
bodies  were  being  devoured  by  wild  beasts,  or  con- 
sumed by  fire. 

II.  Numerous  instances  of  unimpaired  and  even 
unusual  intellectual  vigor  in  the  hour  of  death,  by 

*  Man  all  Immortal,  pp.  60,  61. 


234  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

disease,  and  when  the  body  was  already  a  ruin, 
fully  demonstrate  that  the  hody  and  spirit  are 
distinct;  and  that  the  latter  may  remain  uninjured 
and  vigorous,  though  the  former  has  crumbled  back 
to  dust. 

"The  Rev.  Alanson  Reed,  only  half  an  hour  before 
his  last  breath,  said,  'I  know  full  well  that  I  am  at 
the  point  of  death,  but  the  idea  of  a  spirit  being  ex- 
tinguished in  death,  is  utterly  inconceivable.  The 
soul  is  going  forth,  but  it  has  no  consciousness  of 
dying;  rather  the  consciousness  of  living  on  rises 
above  every  other  feeling,  and  it  is  impossible  for  me 
to  doubt.' 

"  The  celebrated  Boerhaave  contemplated  the  per- 
ceptible difference  between  his  mind  and  his  body,  in 
his  last  illness,  as  being  like  a  philosophical  experi- 
ment to  him,  that  his  intellectual  self  would  not  perish 
with  his  bodily  dissolution. 

"  Haller,  as  death  advanced  to  the  mastery  over 
his  bodily  system,  could  only  measure  its  progress 
by  keeping  his  fingers  upon  his  own  pulse.  'The 
artery,  my  friend,'  said  he  at  length,  'ceases  to 
beat ;'  and  almost  instantly  expired. 

"The  Rev.  Mr.  Halyburton,  when  dying,  said  to  a 
brother  minister,  'I  think  my  case  is  a  pretty  fair 
demonstration  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  My 
bones  are  rising  through  my  skin.  This  body  is 
going  away  to  corruption,  and  yet  my  intellectuals 
are  so  lively,  that  I  cannot  perceive  the  least  altera- 
tion or  decay  in  them."* 

"It  seems,"  said  Dr.  Payson  amid  his  dying 
agonies,  "as  if  the  soul  disdained  such  a  narrow 

*  Man  all  Immortal,  p.  68. 


VIGOR   AMID    BODILY   DISSOLUTION.  235 

prison,  and  was  determined  to  break  through  with 
an  angel's  energy — until  it  mounts  on  high.  It 
seems  as  if  my  soul  had  found  a  pair  of  new  wings, 
and  Avas  so  eager  to  try  them  that,  in  her  fluttering, 
she  would  rend  the  fine  net-work  of  the  body  to 
pieces." 

"I  now  feel,"  said  Dr.  J?isk,  when  near  his  end, 
"a  strength  of  soul,  and  an  energy  of  mind  which 
this  body,  though  afflicted  and  pained,  cannot  im- 
pair. The  soul  has  an  energy  of  its  own.  And  so 
far  from  my  body  pressing  my  soul  down  to  the  dust, 
I  feel  as  if  my  soul  had  almost  power  to  raise  my 
body  upward,  and  bear  it  away."  In  view  of  such  a 
death,  well  might  the  poet  exclaim, 

Oh  may  I  triumph  so, 

When  all  my  warfare's  past ; 
And,  dying,  find  my  latest  foe, 

Under  my  feet  at  last ! 

III.  It  will  not  be  denied  that  the  hope  of  eternal 
life  which  inspires  the  bosom  of  the  dying  Chris- 
tian, has  a  tendency  to  invigorate  the  soul,  and 
impart  in  the  hour  of  death  a  supernatural  strength 
and  courage.  And  yet  it  cannot  be  said  that  the 
above  recited  mental  phenomena  are  wholly  due  to 
this  cause.  The  soul  has  exhibited  the  same  in- 
tellectual vigor,  and  superiority  to  the  body,  even 
when  the  unhappy  subject  was  dying  in  despair. 
To  give  but  a  single  illustration,  take  the  case  of 
the  young  man  of  high  position,  and  of  superior 
talents  and  education,  whose  last  hours  are  so  touch- 
ingly  described  by  Dr.  Young.  To  spare  the  feelings 
of  his  relatives  and  friends,  he  speaks  of  him  under  a 
fictitious  name. 


236  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

"  This  body,"  says  the  wretched  Altamont,  "  is  all 
•weakness  and  pain  ;  but  my  soul,  as  if  stung  up  by 
torment  to  greater  strength  and  spirit,  is  full  power- 
ful to  reason,  full  mighty  to  suffer.  And  that  which 
thus  triumphs  within  the  jaws  of  mortality,  is,  doubt- 
less, immortal." 

IV.  The  bearing  of  such  instances  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  the  soul's  immortality  is  obvious.  They  clearly 
show  that  the  mind  is  not  the  body  ;  that  it  does  not 
waste  with  it,  and  does  not  die  with  it. 

"  To  make  the  argument  plain,"  says  Dr.  Lee,  "we 
say  that  a  single  instance  in  which  the  mind  kindles 
up  at  the  moment  of  death,  and  blazes  out  with  un- 
wonted intellectual  fires,  while  the  body  is  wan  and 
cold  and  helpless,  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  idea 
that  the  mind  is  any  part  of  the  material  body,  and 
that  it  wastes  and  dies  with  it.  On  the  other  hand 
those  cases  in  which  the  mind  appears  to  waste  with 
the  body  and  go  out  like  the  sun,  passing  gradually 
behind  a  cloud,  deeper  and  darker,  until  its  last  ray 
is  lost,  can  be  explained  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
theory  of  the  immateriality  of  the  mind,  and  even  its 
immortality.  Does  the  mind  fail,  as  in  second  child- 
hood— or  does  it  grow  gradually  dim  as  the  body 
wastes  under  the  influence  of  disease  ?  The  explana- 
tion is  this  :  the  bodily  organs  through  which  the  mind 
communicates  with  the  material  world,  in  these  par- 
ticular cases,  are  impaired  by  age  or  disease.  In 
many  cases  of  death  from  sickness,  the  mind  appears 
to  waste  away,  or  gradually  sink  into  a  state  of  sleep, 
merely  because  the  will  does  not  determine  it  in  a  di- 
rection to  develope  itself  to  the  world  without.  But 
that  the  mind  is  there,  distinct  from  the  wasting,  dy- 


VIGOR    AMID    BODILY   DISSOLUTION.  237 

ing  body,  is  clear  from  the  many  cases  already  re- 
ferred to,  in  which  the  mind,  being  roused  by  the 
prospect  of  heaven,  or  seized  with  the  terror  of  im- 
pending perdition,  flashes  with  the  fires  of  immortal- 
ity, and  sheds  a  living  glare  as  it  quits  its  house  of 
clay,  and.  enters  upon  the  destinies  of  the  spirit 
world. 

"  This  has  often  been  witnessed  in  the  dying  mo- 
ments of  both  the  Christian  and  the  sinner.  There 
are  but  few  Christian  pastors  who  have  been  long  de- 
voted to  their  work,  that  have  not  in  their  visits 
among  the  sick  and  dying,  more  than  once  stood  by 
the  bedside  of  those  whose  last  moments  left  upon 
their  minds  a  vivid  impression  of  the  undying  nature 
of  the  soul."* 

0  change !  0  wondrous  change! 

Burst  are  the  prison  bars ; 
This  moment  there  so  low, 
So  agonized,  and  now 

Bej-ond  the  stars ! 

0  change !     Stupendous  change ! 

There  lies  the  soulless  clod ; 
The  sun  eternal  breaks. 
The  new  immortal  wakes, 

Wakes  with  his  God  ! 

»  Lee's  Theology,  p.  267. 


THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE    DISSOLUTION    OF    THE     BODY    AFFORDS    NO    PRE- 
SUMPTION  THAT   THE    MIND    PERISHES   WITH    IT. 

I  live,  move,  am  conscious ;  what  shall  bar  my  being  ? 
Where  is  the  rude  hand  to  rend  this  tissue  of  existence? 
Not  thine,  shadowy  Death,  what  art  thou  but  a  phantom? 
Not  thine,  foul  Corruption,  what  art  thou  but  a  fear? 
For  death  is  merel}' absent   life,  as   darkness  absent  light; 
Not  even  a  suspension,  for  the  life  hath  sailed  away. 

HOWEVER  clearly  the  Bible  may  teach  the  doctrine 
of  a  future  state,  and  however  loudly  Nature  may  re- 
spond to  this  revelation,  we  have  no  practical  ac- 
quaintance with  disembodied  spirits.  All  that  we 
have  known  of  the  human  soul  has  been  in  its  con- 
nection with  the  body.  All  our  experiences  and  habits 
of  thought  and  utterance,  associate  the  mind  of  man 
with  the  body,  in  relations  so  intimate,  that  it  is  but 
a  natural,  though  an  erroneous  induction,  that  when 
one  perishes  the  other  must  perish  also.  And  yet  a 
moment's  attention  to  the  subject,  in  the  light  of  other 
physical  phenomena  with  which  we  are  acquainted, 
might  convince  us  that  the  dissolution  of  the  body 
does  not  afford  even  a  presumption  that  the  soul  per- 
i>Ucs  with  it. 

I.   It  is  a  general  fact  in  nature  that  the  dissolution 


WHY    PERISH    WITH    THE    BODY  ? 

of  a  compound  substance,  does  not  involve  the  ele- 
ments of  which  it  is  composed,  in  the  same  common 
destiny.  If  we  burn  a  piece  of  hard  coal,  a  portion 
"goeth  downward,"  returning  to  the  earth  as  it  was, 
in  the  form  of  ashes ;  while  other  and  more  volatile 
elements  ascend,  and  are  either  consumed  by  combus- 
tion, or  mingle  with  the  atmosphere.  And  so  of 
almost  every  element  in  nature ;  let  it  be  submitted 
to  any  great  and  radical  change,  and  certain  portions 
of  it  are  almost  sure  to  elude  our  grasp  and  escape. 

Let  a  man  be  placed  upon  an  insulating  stool,  and 
charged  with  electricity  till  every  hair  of  his  head 
stands  erect.  Could  he  be  reduced  to  ashes,  or  got 
into  a  coffin  without  the  escape  of  the  electricity  ? 
We  might  handle  him  with  the  greatest  care,  and  with 
gloves  made  of  non-conducting  substances,  and  yet  it 
would  escape  ;  if  in  no  other  way  the  very  atmosphere 
would  gradually  remove  it. 

Have  we  not,  then,  in  these  facts,  an  analogy  in  the 
natural  world — one  that  might  at  least  guard  us 
against  the  conclusion  that  the  dissolution  of  the  hu- 
man body,  necessarily  involved  the  entire  man  in  a 
common  destiny  and  ruin  ? 

If  there  is  an  element  in  nature  with  which  the 
human  body  may  be  charged,  which  will  inevitably 
escape  unimpaired,  though  the  body  be  destroyed, 
may  there  not  also  be  an  ethereal  principle  in  man, 
which  thinks  and  reasons  and  hopes  and  fears,  and 
which  will  escape  uninjured  though  the  body  be  dis- 
solved ? 

II.  Every  person  is  conscious  of  his  personal  and 
intellectual  identity,  from  childhood  to  old  age,  no 
matter  what  changes  may  have  taken  place  in  the  body. 


240  THE   IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

1.  How  great   the   change   in   the  size  and  form 
and   appearance  of   every  human   body,  from  child- 
hood to  maturity.     A  few   years,   even,   will   often 
so  change  and  disguise  a  person  that  their  most  inti- 
mate friends  can  scarcely  recognize  them. 

2.  A  man  may  lose  both  arms,  and  both  legs,  and 
yet  he  is  conscious  of  being  the  same  thinking  spir- 
itual being  that  he  was  before. 

3.  It  is  said  to  be  a  well-established  fact  in  human 
physiology,  that  the  body  is  completely  changed,  so 
that  every  person  has  an  entirely  new  body,  so  far  as 
the  matter  of  which  it  is  composed  is  concerned,  every 
seven   years.      Take,   then,   for    example,    a  person 
eighty  years  of  age  ;  upon  the  supposition  just  stated  ; 
the  substance  of  his  body  has  been  changed  no  less 
than  ten  times  since  he  was  ten  years   old.     And, 
yet  though  he  has  had  ten  new  bodies  during  the  pre- 
vious seventy  years,  he  is  conscious  that  so  far  as  the 
mind  is  concerned,  he  is  the  same  identical  person  who 
saw  and  heard  and  laughed  and  wept  seventy  years 
before. 

"  The  identity  of  the  organization  is  preserved  only 
as  the  identity  of  a  watch  is  preserved,  which  when 
seventy  years  old,  has  had  every  wheel  and  part  sup- 
plied with  new  ones  ten  times.  All  the  wheels  have 
been  used  up  and  supplied  ten  times,  but  it  is  the 
same  watch." 

"  This  may  be  seen  by  the  unlettered  reader  who 
has  never  studied  physiology.  He  knows  that  he 
must  take  food  every  day  to  supply  the  perpetual 
waste  of  his  system — that  what  he  eats  forms  blood, 
and  flesh,  and  bones.  This  could  not  be  necessary, 
were  there  not  a  perpetual  waste.  This  is  further 


WHY    PERISH    WITH    THE    BODY?  241 

proved  from  the  fact  that  the  moment  we  cease  to  re- 
ceive a  sufficient  degree  of  nutriment,  the  body  be- 
gins to  waste  and  become  thinner,  as  the  saying  is, 
it  grows  p'oor.  A  person  may  be  nearly  starved  to 
death,  or  emaciated  with  sickness,  until  reduced  to 
one  quarter  his  usual  weight,  and  then  in  a  few  weeks 
recover,  and  be  as  full  and  heavy  as  before.  Does 
the  body  consist  of  the  same  particles  of  matter  now 
that  it  did  before  ?  Certainly  not ;  the  waste  has 
been  supplied  with  new  matter,  and  yet  the  person  is 
conscious  of  having  preserved  his  identity  through  all 
these  changes  ;  he  is  certain  that  he  that  thinks  and 
feels  now,  is  he  that  thought  and  felt  before  these 
changes  took  place."* 

4.  But  we  have  no  such  consciousness  that  the  body 
in  which  we  find  ourselves  at  three-score  years,  is  in 
its  substance  the  same  body  in  which  we  played  in 
childhood.  If  consciousness  gives  any  testimony  upon 
this  point,  her  verdict  will  be  that  the  outer  man  has 
been  changing  from  year  to  year,  during  all  our  pil- 
grimage, not  only  in  its  form  and  magnitude,  but  also 
in  the  very  elements  of  its  being. 

How  different  with  the  mind.  Instead  of  feeling 
that  that  has  changed  while  these  great  changes  have 
taken  place  with  the  body,  we  retain  amid  all  these 
changes,  a  distinct  consciousness  of  our  own  spiritual , 
identity — that  we  are  the  same  identical  conscious  in- 
telligence that  hoped  and  feared  in  our  childhood 
bodies  sixty  years  before,  f 

Now  what  is  the  legitimate  inference   from  a  fact 

*  Lee  on  the  Soul,  new  edition,  pp.  33,  34. 

f  See  Moore's  Power  of  the  Soul  over  the  Body,  p.  15.     Also,  But- 
ler's essay  on  personal  Identity. 
16 


•24'2  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

like  this,  if  it  be  not  that  the  mind  is  not  the  body, 
but  is  distinct  from  it ;  and  that  however  the  body 
may  be  changed,  either  gradually  or  imperceptibly, 
or  suddenly  or  palpably,  that  the  mind  will  live  on, 
retaining  its  personal  identity,  and  its  powers  unde- 
stroyed,  through  all  subsequent  bodily  mutations. 

III.  Bishop  Butler  has  thus  forcibly  stated  the 
same  general  argument : 

"  We  have  already,  several  times  over,  lost  a  great 
part,  or  perhaps  the  whole  of  our  body,  according  to 
certain  common  established  laws  of  nature ;  yet  we 
remain  the  same  living  agents  ;  when  we  shall  lose  as 
great  a  part,  or  the  whole,  by  another  common  estab- 
lished law  of  nature,  death,  why  may  we  not  also  re- 
main the  same  ?  That  the  alienation  has  been 
gradual  in  one  case,  and  in  the  other  will  be  more  at 
once,  does  not  prove  anything  to  the  contrary.  We 
have  passed  undestroyed  through  those  many  and 
great  revolutions  of  matter,  so  peculiarly  appropriate 
to  ourselves ;  why  should  we  imagine  death  to  be  so 
fatal  to  us  ? 

"  Nor  can  it  be  objected,  that  what  is  thus  alien- 
ated or  lost,  is  no  part  of  our  original  solid  body,  but 
only  adventitious  matter  ;  because  we  may  lose  entire 
limbs  which  must  have  contained  many  solid  parts  and 
vessels  of  the  original  body ;  or  if  this  be  not  admit- 
ted, we  have  no  proof  that  any  of  these  solid  parts 
are  dissolved  or  alienated  by  death  ;  though,  by  the 
way,  we  are  very  nearly  related  to  that  extraneous  or 
adventitious  matter,  whilst  it  continues  united  to  and 
distending  the  several  parts  of  our  solid  body.  But, 
after  all,  the  relation  a  person  bears  to  those  parts  of 
his  body  to  which  he  is  the  most  nearly  related,  what 


WHY   PERISH    WITH    THE    BODY?  243 

does  it  appear  to  amount  to  but  this,  that  the  living  agent 
and  those  parts  of  the  body  mutually  affect  each  other  ? 
And  the  same  thing,  in  kind,  though  not  in  degree, 
may  be  said  of  all  foreign  matter,  which  gives  us  ideas, 
and  which  we  have  any  power  over.  From  these  ob- 
servations, the  whole  ground  of  the  imagination  is 
removed,  that  the  dissolution  of  any  matter  is  the  de- 
struction of  a  living  agent,  from  the  interest  he  once 
had  in  such  matter."* 

IV.  But  an  objection  to  the  argument  based  upon 
the  conscious  identity  of  the  mind,  amid  bodily 
changes,  has  been  founded  upon  the  acknowledged 
sympathy  of  the  mind  with  the  body,  and  especially 
upon  the  well-known  fact  that  in  many  cases  an  injury 
to  the  brain  destroys  consciousness.  This  would  be 
somewhat  forcible,  perhaps,  were  it  true  that  in  every 
case  where  the  brain  was  diseased  or  partially  removed, 
the  mind  was  impaired  to  the  same  extent.  But  if 
cases  occur  where  even  the  brain  may  be  seriously  in- 
jured or  disorganized,  while  the  mind  remains  with 
all  her  faculties  unimpaired,  the  objection  falls  to  the 
ground.  The  instances  of  mental  derangement  in 
such  cases,  no  more  prove  that  the  mind  will  perish 
when  the  entire  brain  is  dissolved,  than  the  uncon- 
sciousness of  one  man  during  sleep,  proves  that  all 
who  sleep  are  meanwhile  unconscious. 

But  it  is  not  only  true  that  the  soul  indicates  her 
immortality  by  retaining  her  powers  and  faculties  un- 
impaired, amid  extensive  bodily  mutilations  ;  but  even 
the  brain — the  especial  organ  of  the  mind — may  suf- 
fer largely,  as  we  have  shown  in  a  previous  chapter, f 

*  Analogy,  Part  I. 

•j-  See  chapter  is.  page  215. 


244.  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

without  deranging  a  thought  of  the  indwelling  and  un- 
dying spirit.  And  so  of  the  entire  body.  It  is  not 
the  soul  or  any  part  of  it,  and  may  waste  and  be  dis- 
solved without  the  extinction  of  that  other  and  higher 
nature,  which  is  spiritual,  indestructible  and  immortal. 
As  the  swift-winged  arrow  may  be  speeding  on  its 
way,  though  the  bow  from  which  it  is  sent  may  be 
snapped  and  ruined,  and  as  the  light  of  the  fixed 
stars  might  continue  to  shoot  on  through  space  for 
ages,  though  the  stars  themselves  were  suddenly  an- 
nihilated, so  the  life  of  the  soul  will  go  on  in  the  fu- 
ture forever,  though  the  body  from  which  it  springs 
at  death  has  crumbled  back  to  dust. 


THE    INDESTRUCTIBILITY   OF   MATTER.  245 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

ARGUMENT   DRAWN   FROM   THE  INDESTRUCTIBILITY  OF 
MATTER. 

IT  has  generally  been  assumed  by  those  who  deny 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  that  annihilation  is  even 
more  natural  than  creation.  How  that  may  be  we 
care  not  to  inquire.  Neither  are  we  disposed  to 
deny  that  so  far  as  power  to  effect  the  result  is  con- 
cerned, God  could  annihilate  the  entire  universe  in  a 
moment  of  time.  But  so  far  as  we  have  any  light 
upon  the  subject,  instead  of  its  being  even  an  occa- 
sional event,  it  seems  to  be  established  as  a  law  of 
nature,  that  nothing  that  is  once  launched  into  being 
shall  ever  go  out  of  existence. 

I.  Natural  philosophy  teaches  us  that  of  all  this 
vast  creation  no  substance  has  yet  been  found,  how- 
ever subtle  or  refined,  which  man  has  power  to 
annihilate,  or  put  utterly  out  of  being.  It  may  be  a, 
hailstone  or  a  drop  of  water,  and  we  may  freeze  it, 
or  heat  it  to  steam,  or  decompose  it  into  its  elemen- 
tary gases,  and  explode  it ;  or  evaporate  it ;  but  it 
still  exists,  every  atom  of  it;  and  disperse  or  change 
its  elements  as  we  may,  they  will  forever  defy  all 
efforts  at  their  annihilation.  And  so  of  every  sub- 
stance, solid  or  fluid,  animal,  mineral,  or  vegetable, 


246  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

through  the  whole  realm  of  nature.  Annihilation  is  a 
name  for  what  never  yet  occurred  to  matter,  and 
never  can. 

"A  mass  of  atoms  may  be  separated  and  changed 
from  one  form  to  another  by  chemical  and  mechani- 
cal forces,  but  not  one  of  them  can  ever  be  lost;  for 
in  all  cases  where  a  body  is  apparently  destroyed, 
it  can  be  shown  experimentally  that  the  parts  are 
only  separated,  and  can  be  collected  again.  Thus, 
when  wood  is  burned  in  the  fire,  it  appears  to  be 
annihilated;  but  if  we  collect  the  products  —  the 
smoke  and  ashes,  we  shall  find  the  same  quantity  in 
weight  that  existed  in  the  wood.  In  fact,  we  shall 
find  a  larger  amount  of  matter  than  was  originally 
contained  in  the  wood,  owing  to  the  oxygen  of  the 
air  which  has  combined  with  the  wood  in  the  process 
of  combustion. 

"When  gunpowder  is  exploded,  the  products  may 
all  be  collected  again.  The  same  is  found  true  in 
every  case  where  matter  changes  its  form  or  composi- 
tion. We  know  that  the  material  atoms  of  our  own 
bodies  are  constantly  changing,  but  not  one  of  them 
is  ever  annihilated.  That  atom  of  matter  which  was 
struck  from  its  kindred  particles  ages  since,  may 
have  passed  through  many  forms,  solid,  liquid,  and 
gaseous,  perhaps  through  animal  and  vegetable  bodies, 
before  it  entered  the  kernel  of  grain,  and  became  a 
portion  of  our  own  system;  and  there  are  many 
changes  which  it  will  undergo  there  before  it  shall  be 
cast  out  into  the  air  as  pure  as  at  first,  to  enter  other 
forms  and  nourish  other  systems.  Matter  is  thus 
ever  changing,  but  never  destroyed."* 

*  Gray's  Elements  of  Natural  Philosophy,  pp.  22,  23. 


THE    INDESTRUCTIBILITY    OF    MATTER.  247 

Here,  then,  is  a  distinct  intimation  of  a  great  law 
in  nature  herself,  that  change  is  not  extinction  of 
being;  and  therefore  that  death  may  not  be  the  last 
of  man. 

II.  The  Holy  Scriptures  teach  the  same  philosophy, 
"Whatsoever  God  doeth,  it  shall  be  forever:   nothing 
can   be  put  to  it,  nor  anything  taken  from  it:    and 
God  doeth  it,  that  men  should  fear  before  him." 

"It  shall  be  forever" — shall  always  exist.  "Nothing 
can  be  put  to  it."  A  congress  of  archangels  could 
not  add  a  pebble  to  the  universe.  "Nor  anything 
taken  from  it."  All  the  intelligent  universe,  God  ex- 
cepted,  could  not  annihilate  a  grain  of  sand.  "And 
Gf-od  doeth  it  that  men  should  fear  before  him."  This 
fixedness  of  the  material  creation  is  ordained  that  we, 
knowing  that  whatever  God  launches  into  being  by 
his  creative  fiat,  must  exist  forever,  may  understand 
our  own  immortal  destination,  and  may  fear  to  provoke 
the  unending  displeasure  of  the  Almighty. 

III.  Such  being   the  fact   in   the  material  world, 
namely,  that  so  far  as  we  have  knowledge  nothing 
can  be  annihilated,  the  advocate  of  the  non-existence 
of  souls  after  the  change  of  death,  reasons  against  the 
undeniable  and  stubborn  fact,  that  all  philosophy  is 
against  him.     Every  analogy  of  nature  is   a  protest 
against  his  cold  and  cheerless  creed.     In  talking  of 
"annihilation,"  he  talks  of  that  which  has  never  yet 
occurred  even  to  a  grain  of  sand ;  and  employs  a  name 
which  represents  nothing  but  an  imaginary  nonentity.* 

*Some  writer,  perhaps  Samne]  Drew  the  metaphysician,  coined  the 
word  zamiff  to  represent  an  imaginary  something  as  yet  unknown, 
which  should  he  neither  matter  nor  spirit.  The  term  annihilation  has 
an  analogous  import;  as  it  is  used  to  represent  an  imaginary  event 
that  never  did  occur  and  never  can. 


248  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF   THE   SOUL. 

IV.  In  contemplating  this  characteristic  of  the 
material  world,  we  should  not  forget  that  it  applies  as 
well  to  the  elements  of  which  our  bodies  are  composed, 
as  to  any  other. 

Corruption,  closely  noted,  is  but  a  dissolving  of  the  parts. 
The  parts  remain,  and  nothing  lost,  to  build  a  better  whole. 

The  oxygen,  and  iron,  and  lime,  and  phosphorus 
that  enter  into  the  composition  of  our  bodies,  are  to 
exist  forever.  Why,  then,  should  the  spirit  cease  to  be  ? 

But  it  may  be  replied  that  the  body  no  longer 
exists  as  a  body.  We  grant  it;  but  it  exists  as  mat- 
ter, and  still  retains  all  its  original  attributes  and 
capabilities  as  such,  and  may  live  again  in  other 
forms  and  under  other  auspices  from  age  to  age.  And 
if  the  same  be  conceded  in  regard  to  the  essence  of 
the  soul,  notwithstanding  failing  powers  and  perhaps 
a  seeming  parenthesis  of  unconscious  being  just  before 
death,  we  shall  still  have  an  immortality  with  all  our 
powers  as  spirits  unimpaired  and  vigorous  forever. 

We  have  thus  shown  that  so  far  as  we  can  learn 
from  all  observation  and  experience,  matter  is  inde- 
structible ;  and  that  it  is  a  law  of  the  universe  that 
whatever  is  once  launched  into  being  shall,  in  one 
form  or  another,  exist  forever. 

Now  if  this  be  true  of  matter  much  more  of  mind, 
unless  it  can  be  shown  that  mind  is  inferior  to  and 
more  perishable  than  matter.  If  it  were  granted, 
even,  that  the  soul  is  a  material  substance,  its  endless 
existence  would  be  a  legitimate  inference  from  the 
indestructibility  of  matter.  And  in  proportion  as  the 
soul  is  found  superior  to  matter,  is  the  inference 
strengthened  that  she  might  survive,  though  matter 
should  cease  to  exist. 


THE    INDESTRUCTIBILITY   OF    MATTER.  249 

Would  not  the  idea  of  the  extinction  of  the  spirit 
by  any  means  be  contrary  to  all  the  analogies  of  na- 
ture ? 

"  Can  it  be  so  ? 

Matter  immortal,  and  shall  spirit  die? 
Above  the  nobler  shall  less  noble  rise  ? 
Shall  man  alone  for  whom  all  else  survives, 
Xo  resurrection  know  ?     Shall  man  alone, 
Imperial  man  be  sown  in  barren  ground? 
Less  privileged  than  the  grain  on  which  he  feeds?" 

No !  The  idea  is  not  only  repulsive  to  every  in- 
stinct of  our  natures,  but  is  both  irrational  and  ab- 
surd. Shall  the  pyramids  of  Egypt  resist  the  cor- 
roding power  of  time,  and  stand  undecayed  for  ages, 
when  the  mind  that  designed  them  has  long  since 
ceased  to  exist?  Even  the  body,  though  doomed  to 
dissolution,  will  still  exist,  with  all  its  capabilities  of 
reconstruction  and  immortal  vitality.  Why,  then, 
should  its  occupant  and  ruler  cease  to  be?  The  supe- 
rior utterly  perish,  while  the  inferior  survives? 

Why  should  this  gross  integument  endure 
If  its  undying  guest  be  lost  forever  ? 
Oh  !  let  us  keep  the  soul  embalmed  and  pure, 
In  living  virtues,  that  when  both  must  sever, 
Although  corruption  may  our  frame  consume, 
The  immortal  spirit  in  the  skies  may  bloom. 


250  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE    SOUL   IMMATERIAL   AND    THEREFORE     IMMORTAL. 

IN  the  preceding  chapters  our  inquiries  have  been 
exclusively  confined  either  to  the  material  world,  or 
to  the  relations  which  the  soul  sustains  to  matter,  and 
its  phenomena  under  various  material  changes.  With 
a  few  slight  exceptions  no  allusion  has  been  made  to 
the  abstract  mental  and  moral  powers  of  man,  as  fur- 
nishing in  themselves  considered,  a  strong  presump- 
tive argument  that  the  soul  is  immortal.  Let  us  now 
pass  to  this  branch  of  the  general  argument,  namely, 
to  the  evidences  of  immortality  which  may  be  drawn 
from  the  powers  and  susceptibilities  of  the  soul  herself. 

I.  We  think  it  may  safely  be  assumed  at  the  out- 
set that,  if  he  who  made  the  soul  at  the  first  designed 
her  to  exist  forever,  every  power  and  attribute  of  her 
being  would  correspond  with  this   design.     Not   only 
her  relations  to  the  body,  and  the  various  phenomena 
of  life  and   death  would   harmonize  with   the  idea  of 
continued  existence,  as  shown   in  the   previous   chap- 
ters, but  the  effects  of  all  influences   brought  to  bear 
upon  our  spiritual  natures,  while   in   connection   with 
the  body,  would  be  such  only  as  are   compatible  with 
the  idea  of  immortal  existence  after  death. 

II.  If  the  question   of  durability  related  to  some 


SPIRIT   NOT   MATERIAL.  251 

ponderous  and  solid  substance,  such  as  materials  for 
a  building,  and  we  had  no  experience  to  guide  us  in 
its  solution  ;  we  should  most  probably  proceed  analyt- 
ically, to  ascertain  its  composition ;  its  power  of  re- 
sisting heat  and  cold  and  moisture ;  its  relation 
to  other  durable  substances ;  and  how  it  is  affect- 
ed by  the  ordinary  causes  of  dissolution.  May  not 
a  similar  process  be  employed  in  considering  the 
question  of  the  soul's  immortality  ?  True,  the  soul  is 
not  susceptible  of  physical  analysis  like  a  block  of 
granite;  and  yet  so  numerous  and  various  are  her 
powers,  and  so  distinct  from  each  other,  that  their 
separate  contemplation  is  not  wholly  unlike  the  chem- 
ical analysis  of  a  compound  substance,  and  the  deter- 
mining of  its  general  character  by  the  study  of  its 
component  elements.  Let  us  inquire  then,  whether 
or  not  there  is  anything  in  the  nature  or  attributes  of 
the  soul  herself,  that  foreshadow  her  continued  and 
conscious  existence  when  the  body  is  dissolved. 

III.  In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  shown  that 
continued  being  is  a  law  of  the  material  universe ; 
and  that  consequently  the  soul  of  man  will  survive 
the  event  of  death,  unless  it  can  be  shown  to  be  more 
liable  to  perish  than  the  material  world  with  which  it 
is  here  connected.  Let  us  now  inquire  whether  the 
nature  of  the  soul,  as  a  spiritual  and  indissoluble  es- 
sence, does  not  render  her  future  non-existence  even 
less  probable  than  if  she  were  a  bar  of  gold,  or  a 
block  of  marble. 

If  the  soul  is  really  an  immaterial  essence — a  pure 
spirit — wholly  different  from  the  body,  in  which  it 
dwells,  does  not  that  fact  in  itself  greatly  strengthen 
the  probability  that  it  will  continue  to  exist  after  the 


252  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

body  is  dissolved ;  or,  indeed,  that  it  is  in  its  very 
nature  incapable  of  annihilation.  But  here  arises  the 
great  question,  Is  the  soul  immaterial  f 

IV.  Different  writers  have  varied  greatly  in  the 
prominence  which  they  have  given  to  this  question  in 
their  productions.  Flavel,  in  his  "  Treatise  on  the 
Soul  of  Man,"  scarcely  alludes  to  it,  in  a  volume  ex- 
tending to  nearly  five  hundred  octavo  pages.*  Sam- 
uel Drew,  the  celebrated  English  metaphysician,  makes 
it  more  prominent,  and  treats  it  more  thoroughly  and 
conclusively,  in  our  opinion  than  any  other  writer.f 
But  his  style  is  metaphysical,  and  it  requires  the 
closest  attention  for  an  ordinary  reader  to  understand 
and  appreciate  his  arguments.  On  this  account  his 
book,  though  small  in  size,  and  eminently  able,  has 
never  been  a  popular  one,  and  his  arguments  are  com- 
paratively unknown.  Dr.  Dick,  in  his  Philosophy  of  a 
Future  State,  barely  mentions  the  subject  of  the  soul's 
immateriality,  but  dismisses  it,  on  the  ground  of  the 
difficulty  of  so  stating  the  proofs  of  the  fact,  as  to 
have  them  understood  and  appreciated  by  ordinary 
readers.  In  Bishop  Clark's  recent  work,  we  have  lit- 
tle or  nothing  upon  the  subject,  as  a  distinct  topic. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  omission  of  this  argu- 
ment by  modern  writers,  is  to  some  extent  a  sort  of 
reaction,  caused  by  the  excessive  prominence  given  to 
it  by  Mr.  Drew,  and  to  the  fact  alluded  to  by  Dr.  Dick, 
that  it  is  not  easy  to  adapt  it  to  popular  apprehension. 

Nevertheless,  in  our  view  it  is  an  important  element 
in  this  discussion ;  and  one  upon  the  settlement  of 
which  to  a  great  extent  the  whole  question  of  the 

*  London  edition,  1739. 

|  Esaay  on  the  Immateriality  and  Immortality  of  the  Human  Soul. 


SPIRIT    NOT    MATERIAL.  253 

soul's  immortality  depends.  In  our  opinion,  therefore, 
the  true  course  lies  between  the  extremes  of  an  ex- 
tended metaphysical  discussion  on  the  one  hand,  like 
that  of  Mr.  Drew,  and  passing  by  the  question  in 
comparative  silence.* 

In  the  first  and  second  chapters  of  part  first  we  have 
touched  briefly  upon  the  subject,  but  recur  to  it  again 
not  only  on  account  of  its  intrinsic  importance, 
but  because  it  is  a  question  belonging  as  well  to  the 
department  of  rational  investigation,  as  to  that  of 
Scriptural  proof. 

V.  The  superiority  of  mind  over  matter  as  shown 
elsewhere  is  witnessed  on  every  hand.  The  control 
of  the  mind  over  the  body  ;  all  the  products  of  art, 
mechanical  ingenuity  and  skill ;  and  all  the  wonder- 
ful achievements  of  the  human  soul  in  the  realm  of 
nature,  proclaim  her  what  the  Scriptures  declare  her 
to  be,  master  of  the  material  creation.  Is  it  likely, 
then,  that  mind  which  exercises  this  wonderful  con- 
trol is  of  the  same  nature  as  the  forms  of  being  over 
which  it  reigns  ?  Is  it  one  mere  animal  having  "  do- 
minion" over  all  other  animals  ?  Is  it  one  part  of 
the  body  ruling  the  other  parts  ? 

This  very  supremacy  of  man  over  the  lower  world, 
as  read  in  the  Scriptures,  and  seen  everywhere  in 
fact,  betokens  superior  power  and  a  superior  nature  ; 
and  as  he  reigns  by  his  mental  and  not  by  his  physi- 
cal superiority,  f  his  rule  in  this  lower  world  implies  a 

*  Dr.  Luther  Lee  has  hit  this  medium  very  happily  in  his  work  on 
the  Immortality  of  the  Soul,  in  which  he  treats  this  point  very  clearly 
and  ably,  and  yet  with  admirable  brevity. 

f  As  a  mere  animal,  and  aside  from  its  adaptation  to  the  uses  of  a  ra- 
tional spirit,  the  human  body  is  in  some  respects  inferior  to  many  othei 
animals.  The  horse,  and  owl,  lions,  cats,  Ac.,  can  see  where  man  can- 
not. In  .strength,  and  speed,  and  hearing,  and  smelling,  and  endurance 


254  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

spiritual  nature,  by  virtue  of  which  he  sways  his 
scepter. 

VI.  That  either  matter  or  spirit  are  indestructible 
in  such  a  sense  that  God  could  not  annihilate  them, 
is  absurd.  He  who  created  can  with  equal  ease  de- 
stroy the  universe.  But  that  he  has  so  constituted 
both  as  that  they  will  continue  on  despite  all  created 
powers,  we  fully  believe.  The  soul  is  therefore 
naturally  immortal ;  that  is,  God  has  endowed  it  with 
immortality  as  a  part  of  its  very  nature.*  It  seems 
to  have  been  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Tupper,  however, 
that  but  for  redemption  Adam  and  Eve  would  have 
been  annihilated. 

"  If  then,  as  annihilated  by  sin,  the  soul  was  ever  forfeit, 
Godhead  paid  the  mighty  price,  the  pledge  hath  been  redeemed : 
He,  from  the  waters  of  Oblivion  raised  the  drowning  race, 
Lifting  them  even  to  himself,  the  baseless  Rock  of  Ages."  f 

But  we  regard  this  as  an  erroneous  view  of  the 
grounds  of  our  immortality.  Christ  did  not  die  to 
save  us  from  annihilation,  but  that  the  immortal  ex- 

and  instinct,  they  are  inconceivably  his  superiors.  Take  from  man  the 
single  endowment  of  reason  ;  or  in  other  words,  dispossess  the  human 
body  of  its  indwelling  immaterial  spirit,  and  man  is  of  all  animals  per- 
haps the  most  helpless  and  dependent. 

*  "  Immortality,"  says  Dr.  Good,  "  is  in  every  instance  a  special  gift 
of  the  Creator  j  and  so  wide  is  the  gulf  that  exists  between  the  intelli- 
gence of  man  and  that  of  the  brute  tribes,  that  there  can  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  conceiving  where  the  line  is  drawn,  and  the  special  endowment 
terminates.  It  is  an  attribute  natural  to  the  being  of  man,  merely  be- 
cause his  indulgent  Maker  has  made  it  so  ;  but  there  is  nothing  either 
in  natural  or  revealed  religion  that  can  lead  us  to  the  same  conclusion 
in  respect  of  brutes ;  and  hence  to  speak  of  their  natural  immortality  is 
altogether  visionary  and  unphilosophical.  * 

f  Proverbial  Philosophy,  p.  95. 

•Book  of  Nature,  p.  331. 


SPIRIT   NOT    MATERIAL.  255 

istence  before  us  might  be  one  of  joy  and  gladness, 
and  not  one  of  endless  remorse  and  sorrow. 

But  to  return  to  the  point  in  hand :  if  the  soul  is 
indestructible  and  immortal,  it  is  so  because  God 
•wills  it,  and  not  because  of  anything  in  the  nature 
of  either  matter  or  mind,  which  renders  annihilation 
impossible  by  the  infinite  Creator. 

The  true  form  of  the  argument  drawn  from  the 
spiritual  nature  of  the  soul,  is,  therefore,  as  we  con- 
ceive, to  infer  immortality  from  the  adaptation  of  the 
soul,  as  a  spirit,  to  exist  forever;  and  not  from  any 
alleged  impossibility  of  annihilation. 

The  Divine  Being  will  not  annihilate  the  souls  of 
men,  (a  legitimate  inference  from  his  doings  in  the 
natural  world,)  and  has  made  them  incapable  of  anni- 
hilation by  material  agencies.  "We  can  form  no  con- 
ception of  any  method  by  which  a  pure  spirit  can  be 
injuriously  affected  by  material  contact,  or  by  physical 
power. 

"Material  bodies  can  never  act  but  when  they 
bring  their  surfaces  in  contact  with  each  other.  As 
an  immaterial  substance  has  no  surface,  it  is  a  con- 
tradiction to  suppose  that  matter  can  ever  be  brought 
into  contact  with  it :  to  suppose  such  a  contact  possi- 
ble, is  to  suppose  a  surface  in  an  immaterial  being, 
which  at  the  same  time  is  excluded  by  its  natural  im- 
materiality. Whatever  has  an  exterior  must  have  an 
interior;  and  what  has  both  must  be  extended:  and 
what  is  thus  extended,  cannot  be  immaterial.  An 
immaterial  substance,  therefore,  can  have  no  surface, 
and  that  which  has  no  surface  can  never  be  brought 
into  contact  with  that  which  has ;  it  therefore  follows 
that  the  soul  must  be  inaccessible  to  all  violence 


256  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

from  matter,  and  that  it  cannot  perish  through  its 
instrumentality."  * 

The  soul  of  man  is  not  a  thing  to  be  dissolved,  or 
melted,  or  frozen,  or  pulverized.  As  well  attempt  to 
weigh  a  pain,  or  solidify  a  fear;  so  that  if  the  soul 
has  no  power  to  dread  beyond  the  realm  of  material 
creation,  her  passport  to  endless  existence  is  clear, 
and  immortality  certain. 

VII.  Even  some  of  the  elements  around  us  may 
aid  our  conceptions  of  the  powers  and  capabilities  of 
the  immortal  spirit.  Who  can  trace  the  footsteps  of 
the  magnetic  currents,  either  on  our  planet  or  through 
the  celestial  spaces?  Could  not  light  pass  through  a 
globe  of  crystal  thousands  of  miles  in  diameter  with- 
out obstruction  ?  or  electricity  through  a  globe  of  iron 
in  an  instant  of  time,  and  experience  no  hindrance  ? 
How,  then,  with  a  spirit,  which  no  chains  can  bind, 
or  material  prison  detain.  Can  any  one  suppose 
that  the  angels  on  one  side  of  our  planet,  who  desire 
to  visit  an  heir  of  salvation  upon  the  other  side,  are 
obliged  to  fly  around  a  hemisphere,  soaring  over  con- 
tinents and  seas  to  reach  their  destination?  If  light 
can  pass  through  the  diamond,  and  electricity  through 
the  hardest  steel,  cannot  a  celestial  being  take  the 
shorter  route  of  the  earth's  diameter,  and  fly  through 
rocks,  and  floods,  and  internal  fires,  as  in  the  open 
void  of  heaven?  Must  they  turn  aside  whenever 
they  meet  a  material  orb  in  the  celestial  spaces? 
Do  they  not  rather  dart  through  them,  as  a  sunbeam 
through  a  window  pane,  and  as  if  matter  had  no  ex- 
istence ? 

And  so  of  the  human  soul :  as  a  spirit,  can  material 

*  Drew  on  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul. 


SPIRIT    NOT    MATERIAL.  257 

bonds  confine  her,  or  retard  her  movements?  What 
retort  can  hold  her,  or  alchymy  dissolve  her?  What 
cords  can  bind  her,  or  enginery  crush  her?  What 
floods  can  drown  or  flames  consume  her  ?  What  men 
or  angels  will  become  her  executioners,  and  under- 
take the  task  of  her  annihilation?  Much  better 
attempt  to  solidify  a  sunbeam,  or  convert  the  light- 
ning's flash  into  a  tangible  thunderbolt. 

Spirit  may  control  matter,  but  matter  has  no 
dominion  over  spirit.  No  axe  of  steel  can  ever 
behead  her,  no  polished  blade  can  ever  pierce  her. 

The  soul  secure  in  her  existence,  smiles, 
At  the  drawn  dagger  and  defies  its  point. 
The  stars  may  fade  away.     The  sun  himself, 
Grow  dim  with  age,  and  nature  sink  in  years, 
But  she  shall  flourish  in  immortal  youth, 
Unhurt  amid  the  war  of  elements, 
The  wreck  of  matter  and  the  crush  of  worlds. 
17 


258  THE    IMMORTALITY    OK    Till;    SOUL. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

POWERS   OF   THE    SOUL — MEMORY. 

Who  reads  his  bosom  reads  immortal  life; 
Or  Nature  there,  imposing  on  her  sons, 
Has  written  fables :  man  was  made  a  lie. 

IN  the  preceding  chapter  an  argument  for  the  soul's 
immortality  was  based  upon  her  nature  as  a  spiritual 
essence.  Let  us  now  proceed  to  an  analysis  of  her 
powers  and  capabilities,  and  see  if  they  do  not  afford 
evidence  in  themselves  that  she  is  destined  to  an 
endless  state  of  existence. 

Among  the  most  wonderful  of  all  our  faculties  is 
that  of  MEMORY.  It  may  be  defined  as  the  power  of 
the  soul  to  treasure  up  ideas,  and  to  recall  them  at 
will,  or  have  them  recalled  by  association,  contrast, 
&c.  Of  this  power  or  faculty  of  the  mind,  the  follow- 
ing may  be  affirmed: 

I.  Under  favorable  circumstances  memory  may  be 
cultivated  to  an  almost  unlimited  extent.  It  is  re- 
lated by  Seneca  of  the  Roman  orator  Hortensius, 
that,  after  sitting  a  whole  day  at  a  public  sale,  he 
gave  an  account,  from  memory,  in  the  evening,  of  all 
things  sold,  with  the  prices  and  names  of  the  pur- 
chasers: and  this  account,  when  compared  with  what 


POWER    OF    MEMORY. 

had  been  taken  in  writing  by  a  notary,  was  found  to 
be  exact  in  every  particular. 

An  Englishman,  at  a  certain  time,  came  to  Frederic 
the  Great  of  Prussia,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
giving  him  an  exhibition  of  his  power  of  recollection. 
Frederic  sent  for  Voltaire,  who  read  to  the  king  a 
pretty  long  poem  which  he  had  just  finished.  The 
Englishman  was  present,  and  was  in  such  a  position 
that  he  could  hear  every  word  of  the  poem ;  but  was 
concealed  from  Voltaire's  notice.  After  the  reading 
of  the  poem  was  finished,  Frederic  observed  to  the 
author  that  the  production  could  not  be  an  original 
one,  as  there  was  a  foreign  gentleman  present  who 
could  recite  every  word  of  it.  Voltaire  listened  with 
amazement  to  the  stranger,  as  he  repeated,  word  for 
word,  the  poem  which  he  had  been  at  so  much  pains 
in  composing;  and,  giving  way  to  a  momentary  freak 
of  passion,  he  tore  the  manuscript  in  pieces.  A 
statement  was  then  made  to  him  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  Englishman  became  acquainted  with 
his  poem,  which  had  the  effect  to  mitigate  his  anger, 
and  he  was  very  willing  to  do  penance  for  the  sud- 
denness of  his  passion  by  copying  down  the  work 
from  a  second  repetition  of  it  by  the  stranger,  who 
was  able  to  go  through  with  it  as  before.* 

"An  instance  of  remarkable  power  of  memory 
in  an  Indian  orator,  is  given  in  Smith's  .History 
of  the  Colony  of  New  York.  In  1689  commissioners 
from  Boston,  Plymouth,  and  Connecticut,  had  a 
conference  with  the  five  Indian  Nations,  at  Albany; 
when  a  Mohawk  sachem,  in  a  speech  of  great 
length,  answered  the  message  of  the  commissioners, 

*  Upham'a  Mental  Philosophy,  pp.  168,  169. 


260  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

and  repeated  all  that  had  been  said  the  preceding 
day." 

"  Cyrus  knew  the  names  of  all  the  soldiers  in  his 
army.  Lucius  Scipio  knew  the  names  of  the  Roman 
people.  Mithridates,  who  ruled  over  twenty-two 
kingdoms,  delivered  laws  to  them  in  as  many  lan- 
guages, and  publicly  addressed  the  natives  of  each 
kingdom  in  their  own  tongue,  without  an  interpreter. 
Charmidas,  or  rather  Charmeades,  could  name  all  the 
books  in  a  great  library  as  they  stood  in  order. 
Bonaparte  is  said  to  have  had,  in  many  respects,  a 
wonderfully-retentive  memory.  It  is  related  of 
Moderata  Fonte,  an  Italian  lady  and  an  authoress 
of  note,  that  she  could  repeat  verbatim,  a  sermon 
or  discourse  which  she  had  heard  but  once.  The  same 
is  related  of  Thomas  Fuller,  author  of  the  'Worthies 
of  England." 

"  Sir  Walter  Scott  possessed  a  remarkable  memory, 
Hogg,  the  Ettrick  Shepherd,  records  a  striking  evi- 
dence of  this.  On  a  fishing  excursion  in  the  Tweed, 
the  party  sat  down  upon  the  bank.  '  Scott,'  says  the 
Ettrick  Shepherd,  '  desired  me  to  sing  them  my 
ballad  of  Gilman's  cleuch.  Now,  be  it  remembered 
that  this  ballad  had  never  been  printed  ;  I  had  merely 
composed  it  by  rote,  and,  on  finishing  it  three  years 
before,  had  sung  it  once  over  to  Sir  Walter.  I  be- 
gan it  at  his  request,  but  at  the  eighth  or  ninth  stanza 
I  stuck  in  it,  and  could  not  get  on  with  another 
verse;  on  which  he  began  it  again,  and  recited  it 
every  word  from  beginning  to  end.  It  being  a  very 
long  ballad,  consisting  of  eighty-eight  stanzas,  I  testi- 
fied my  astonishment,  knowing  that  he  had  never 


POWER   OF   MEMORY.  261 

heard  it  but  once,  and  even  then  did  not  appear  to  be 
paying  particular  attention." 

"  Sydney  Smith  had  an  extraordinary  memory 
always  ready.  He  could  repeat  pages  of  poetry, 
English,  Latin,  and  French — when,  where,  or  how  he 
learned  them  no  one  of  his  family  pretended  to 
know ;  but  they  were  always  ready  and  appropriate 
in  company,  when  conversation  turned  that  way.  The 
memory  of  Grotius  was  so  retentive  that  he  remem- 
bered almost  everything  he  read." 

"Professor  Person  possessed  a  prodigious  memory. 
When  a  boy  at  Eton  school,  he  discovered  the  most 
astonishing  powers  of  memory.  In  going  up  to  a 
lesson  one  day,  he  was  accosted  by  a  boy  in  the  same 
form — 'Person,  what  have  you  got  there?'  'Horace.' 
'Let  me  look  at  it.'  Porson  handed  the  book  to  the 
boy,  who,  pretending  to  return  it,  dexterously  sub- 
stituted another  in  its  place,  with  which  Porson  pro- 
ceeded. Being  called  on  by  the  master,  he  read  and 
construed  Carm.  I.  x.,  very  regularly.  Observing 
the  class  to  laugh,  the  master  said,  'Porson,  you  seem 
to  me  to  be  reading  on  one  side  of  the  page,  while  I 
am  looking  at  the  other;  pray  whose  edition  have 
you?'  Porson  hesitated.  'Let  me  see  it,'  rejoined 
the  master;  who,  to  his  great  surprise  found  it  to  be 
an  English  Ovid.  Porson  was  ordered  to  go  on; 
which  he  did  easily,  correctly,  and  promptly,  to  the 
end  of  the  ode." 

"It  is  said  that 'Dr.  Ley  den  had  so  strong  a 
memory  that  he  could  repeat  correctly  a  long  act  of 
Parliament,  or  any  similar  document,  after  a  single 
perusal.  Woodfall's  extraordinary  power  of  report- 
ing the  debates  in  the  House  of  Commons  without 


262  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

aid  of  written  memoranda,  is  well  known.  During  a 
debate  he  used  to  close  his  eyes  and  lean  with  both 
hands  upon  his  stick,  resolutely  excluding  all  extra- 
neous associations.  The  accuracy  and  precision  of 
his  reports  brought  his  newspaper  into  great  repute. 
He  would  retain  a  full  recollection  of  a  particular 
debate  a  fortnight  after  it  had  occurred,  and  during 
the  intervention  of  other  debates.  He  used  to  say 
that  it  was  put  by  in  a  corner  of  his  mind  for  future 
reference."* 

Pascal  forgot  nothing  that  he  ever  read  or  thought. 
Ben  Jonson  could  recall  every  line  which  he  had  ever 
written.  A  blind  Scotchman  in  Glasgow,  who  died 
a  few  years  ago,  could  repeat  the  entire  Scriptures, 
Old  Testament  and  New. 

The  Roman  emperor  Adrian  had  a  memory  so 
tenacious  that  he  recollected  every  incident  of  his 
life,  and  knew  the  name  of  every  soldier  in  his  vast 
army. 

Dumas  informs  us  that,  when  the  emperor  Napo- 
leon decided  to  abandon  the  invasion  of  England,  and 
attack  the  emperor  of  Austria,  it  was  necessary  to 
confide  to  the  chief  of  his  staff  not  only  the  idea  of 
the  plan  of  the  campaign  which  he  meditated,  but, 
likewise,  to  develope  all  the  details.  He  dictated  to 
M.  DARU,  off-hand,  and  without  once  stopping,  those 
memorable  instructions,  that  admirable  plan  of  the 
campaign,  which  was  executed  precisely  as  he  had 
fixed  it,  doubtless  after  profound  meditation.  In 
these  instructions,  the  march  of  every  day,  the 
places  at  which  the  army  should  arrive  at  successive 
periods,  and  the  place  and  almost  the  day  on  which 

*  Man  all  Immortal,  pp.  381-383. 


POWER    OF    MEMORY.  263 

the  great  battle  should  be  fought,  were  minutely 
specified.  With  these  previous  instructions  the  actual 
result  corresponded."* 

"  The  power  of  a  strong  memory,  even  in  its  ordi- 
nary, unquickened  state,  is  astonishing.  So  few 
people  cultivate  the  memory  that  they  are  oftentimes 
incredulous  of  well  authenticated  instances  of  remark- 
able retentiveness." 

II.  It  is  matter  of  common  experience,  that  events 
which  we  had  not  thought  of  for  long  years,  and  that 
we  had  apparently  forgotten,  are  often  brought  dis- 
tinctly to  our  knowledge  again  by  some  accidental 
remark  or  incident;   so  that  of  all  that  we  have  "for- 
gotten "  as  we  call  it,  or  that  we  are  now  unable  to 
remember,  no  man  can  tell  how  soon  he  may  be  able 
to  remember  more  or  less  of  which  his  mind  is  now 
wholly  oblivious. 

III.  Distance  of  time,  of  itself,  seems  to  have  no 
unfavorable  effect  upon  the  memory.     The  aged  re- 
member   the   events  of  their   youth  even    more  dis- 
tinctly than  recent  occurrences.     This   is  no  doubt 
due    to   the  fact    that    the  attention    is    more  easily 
arrested  and  fixed  in  early  life  than   in  after  years ; 
but  even  if  this  be  the  case,  it  shows  that  the  lapse 
of  sixty  or  seventy  years  has  little  or  no  power  to 
obliterate  the  records  of  memory. 

IV.  Under  extraordinary  excitements  it  often  hap- 
pens that  memory  seems  to  bring  forth  all  her  trea- 
sures, and  to  call  up  in  review  and  in  rapid  succession, 
all  the  events  of  our  past  lives.     Of  the  manifesta- 
tions of  this  remarkable  power  of  the  soul,  a  few  in- 
stances may  be  cited. 

*  Wayland's  Intellectual  Philosophy,  p.  258. 


264  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

1.  "Mr.  R.  of  Bowland,  a  gentleman  of  landed 
property  in  the  vale  of  Gala,  was  prosecuted  for  a 
very  considerable  sum,  the  accumulated  arrears  of 
teind,  (or  tithe,)  for  which  he  was  said  to  be  indebted 
to  a  noble  family,  the  titulars,  (lay  impropriators  of 
the  tithes.)  Mr.  R.  was  strongly  impressed  with  the 
belief  that  his  father  had,  by  a  form  of  process  pecu- 
liar to  the  law  of  Scotland,  purchased  these  lands 
from  the  titular,  and  therefore  that  the  present  prose- 
cution was  groundless.  But  after  an  industrious 
search  among  his  father's  papers,  an  investigation  of 
the  public  records,  and  a  careful  inquiry  among  all 
persons  who  had  transacted  law-business  for  his  father, 
no  evidence  could  be  recovered  to  support  his  defence. 
The  period  was  now  near  at  hand  when  he  conceived 
the  loss  of  his  lawsuit  to  be  inevitable,  and  he  had 
formed  his  determination  to  ride  to  Edinburgh  next 
day,  and  make  the  best  bargain  he  could  in  the  way 
of  compromise.  He  went  to  bed  with  this  resolution, 
and  with  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case  floating 
upon  his  mind,  had  a  dream  to  the  following  purpose : 
His  father,  who  had  been  many  years  dead,  appeared 
to  him,  he  thought,  and  asked  him  why  he  was  dis- 
turbed in  his  mind.  In  dreams  men  are  not  surprised 
at  such  apparitions.  Mr.  R.  thought  that  he  informed 
his  father  of  the  cause  of  his  distress,  adding  that  the 
payment  of  a  considerable  sum  of  money  was  the 
more  unpleasant  to  him,  because  he  had  a  strong  con- 
sciousness that  it  was  not  due,  though  he  was  unable 
to  recover  any  evidence  in  support  of  his  belief. 
'  You  are  right,  my  son,'  replied  the  paternal  shade  ; 
'  I  did  acquire  right  to  those  teinds,  for  payment  of 
which  you  are  now  prosecuted.  The  papers  relating 


POWER    OF    MEMORY.  265 

to  the  transaction  are  in  the  hands  of  Mr. ,  a 


writer  (or  attorney)  who  is  now  retired  from  profes- 
sional business,  and  resides  at  Tnveresk,  near  Edin- 
burgh. He  was  a  person  whom  I  employed  on  that  oc- 
casion for  a  particular  reason,  but  who  never,  on  any 
other  occasion,  transacted  business  on  my  account. 
It  is  very  possible,'  pursued  the  vision,  'that  Mr. 

may  have  forgotten  a  matter  which  is  now  of  a 

very  old  date  ;  but  you  may  call  it  to  his  recollection 
by  this  token,  that  when  I  came  to  pay  his  account, 
there  was  difficulty  in  getting  change  for  a  Portugal 
piece  of  gold,  and  that  we  were  forced  to  drink  out 
the  balance  at  a  tavern.' 

"  Mr.  R.  awoke  in  the  morning,  with  all  the  words 
of  his  vision  imprinted  on  his  mind,  and  thought  it 
worth  while  to  ride  across  the  country  to  Inveresk, 
instead  of  going  straight  to  Edinburgh.  When  he 
came  there  he  waited  on  the  gentleman  mentioned  in 
the  dream,  a  very  old  man ;  without  saying  anything 
of  the  vision,  he  inquired  whether  he  remembered 
having  conducted  such  a  matter  for  his  deceased  father. 
The  old  gentleman  could  not  at  first  bring  the  circum- 
stance to  his  recollection  ;  but,  on  mention  of  the  Por- 
tugal piece  of  gold,  the  whole  returned  upon  his  me- 
mory ;  he  made  an  immediate  search  for  the  papers 
and  recovered  them, — so  that  Mr.  R.  carried  to  Edin- 
burgh the  documents  necessary  to  gain  the  cause 
which  he  was  on  the  verge  of  losing." 

"  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  this  very 
interesting  case  is  referable  to  the  principle  lately 
mentioned  ;  that  the  gentleman  had  heard  the  circum- 
stances from  his  father,  but  had  entirely  forgotten 
them,  until  the  frequent  and  intense  application  of  his 


266  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

mind  to  the  subject  with  which  they  were  connected 
at  length  gave  rise  to  a  train  of  association  which  re- 
called them  in  the  dream.  So  the  same  principles  are 
referable  to  the  two  following  anecdotes,  which  we 
have  received  as  entirely  authentic. 

2.  "  A  gentleman  of  the  law  in  Edinburgh  had  mis- 
laid an  important  paper,  relating  to  some  affairs  on 
which  a  public  meeting  was  soon  to  be  held.     He  had 
been  making  most  anxious  search  for  it  for  many 
da ys  ;  but  the  evening  of  the  day  preceding  that  on 
which  the  meeting  was  to  be  held  had  arrived,  without 
his  being  able  to  discover  it.     He  went  to  bed  under 
great  anxiety  and  disappointment,  and  dreamed  that 
the  paper  was  in  a  box  appropriated  to  the  papers  of 
a  particular  family,  with  which  it  was  in  no  way  con- 
nected ;  it  was  accordingly  found  there  in  the  morn- 
ing. 

3.  "Another  individual,  connected  with  a  public 
office,  had  mislaid  a  paper  of  such  importance,  that 
he  was  threatened  with  the  loss  of  his  situation  if  he 
did  not  produce  it.     After  a  long  but  unsuccessful 
search,  under  intense  anxiety,  he  also  dreamed  of  dis- 
covering the  paper  in  a  particular  place,  and  found  it 
there  accordingly.* 

4.  "The  following,"  says   Dr.  Abercrombie,  "oc- 
curred to  a  particular  friend  of  mine,  and  may  be  re- 
lied upon  in  its  most  minute  particulars : — 

"The  gentleman  was  at  the  time  connected  with  one 
of  the  principal  banks  in  Glasgow,  and  was  at  his  place 
at  the  teller's  table,  where  money  is  paid,  when  a  per- 
son entered  demanding  payment  of  a  sum  of  six  pounds. 
There  were  several  people  waiting,  who  were,  in  turn, 

*  Abercrombie's  Intellectual  Philosophy,  pp.  203-7. 


POWER    OF    MEMORY.  267 

entitled  to  be  attended  before  him  ;  but  he  was  ex- 
tremely impatient,  and  rather  noisy ;  and,  being  be- 
sides a  remarkable  stammerer,  he  became  so  annoy- 
ing, that  another  gentleman  requested  my  friend  to 
pay  him  his  money  and  get  rid  of  him.  He  did  so, 
accordingly,  but  with  an  expression  of  impatience  at 
being  obliged  to  attend  to  him  before  his  turn,  and 
thought  no  more  of  the  transaction.  At  the  end  of 
the  year,  which  was  eight  or  nine  months  after,  the 
books  of  the  bank  could  not  be  made  to  balance, 
the  deficiency  being  exactly  six  pounds.  Several 
days  and  nights  had  been  spent  in  endeavoring  to  dis- 
cover the  error,  but  without  success ;  when,  at  last, 
my  friend  returned  home,  much  fatigued,  and  went 
to  bed.  He  dreamed  of  being  at  his  place  in  the 
bank,  and  the  whole  transaction  with  the  stammerer, 
as  now  detailed,  passed  before  him  in  all  its  particu- 
lars. He  awoke  under  a  full  impression  that  the  dream 
was  to  lead  him  to  a  discovery  of  what  he  was  so  anx- 
iously in  search  of ;  and,  on  examination,  soon  discovered 
that  the  sum  paid  to  this  person  in  the  manner  now 
mentioned,  had  been  neglected  to  be  inserted  in  the 
book  of  interests,  and  that  it  exactly  accounted  for 
the  error  in  the  balance."* 

The  following  similar  instance,  is  also  to  the  same 
effect : 

5.  "  A  gentleman  who  was  appointed  to  an  office 
in  one  of  the  principal  banks  in  Edinburgh,  found  on 
balancing  his  first  day's  transactions,  that  the  money 
under  his  charge  was  deficient  by  ten  pounds.  After 
many  fruitless  attempts  to  discover  the  cause  of  the 
error,  he  went  home,  not  a  little  annoyed  by  the  re- 

*  Intellectual  Philosophy,  pp.  203-4. 


268  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

suit  of  his  first  experience  in  banking.  In  the  night 
he  dreamed  that  he  was  at  his  place  in  the  bank, 
and  that  a  gentleman  who  was  personally  known  to 
him  presented  a  draft  for  ten  pounds.  On  awak- 
ing, he  recollected  the  dream,  and  also  recollected 
that  the  gentleman  who  appeared  in  it  had  actually 
received  ten  pounds.  On  going  to  the  bank,  he  found 
that  he  had  neglected  to  enter  the  payment,  and  that 
the  gentleman's  order  had  by  accident  fallen  among 
some  pieces  of  paper,  which  had  been  thrown  on  the 
floor  to  be  swept  away."* 

6.  It  is   a  well-known  fact,  that  to  men  brought 
into   sudden    peril, — there   comes   flashing    in    upon 
their  minds  all  the  scenes  of  their  past  life. 

"A  friend  of  mine,"  says  Theodore  Tilton,  "told 
me,  a  few  days  ago,  of  an  accident  which  occurred  to 
a  relative  of  his  while  riding  through  one  of  the  re- 
cently broken  roads  in  West  Philadelphia.  His 
horse  became  frightened,  and  rah  away;  the  rider 
feared  that  he  would  be  dashed  to  pieces  upon  a  pile 
of  stones  that  lay  by  the  side  of  the  road;  but, 
escaping  without  harm,  he  afterwards  said  that  in 
that  one  solitary  instance  of  imminent  peril,  there 
flashed  through  his  mind  a  recollection  of  all  past  life, 
— his  childhood,  his  youth,  his  early  manhood,  his 
business  affairs,  his  family,  "f 

7.  Numerous  instances  are  on  record  in  which  per- 
sons who  have  been  recovered  from  drowning  have 
declared  that  at  a  certain  period  in  the  process  of 
suffocation,  after   the  lungs  had  become  filled  with 
water,    the    mind    became    indescribably   clear   and 

*  Intellectual  Philosophy,  p.  204. 

f  Lecture  in  Music  Hall,  Boston,  June,  1860. 


POWEll    OF    MEMORY.     .  269 

active;  and  that  the  minutest  events  of  their  past 
lives  arose  distinctly  to  view,  and  passed  rapidly  be- 
fore the  mind. 

"An  individual  of  my  acquaintance,"  says  Bishop 
Clark,  "was  nearly  drowned  some  years  since.  He 
stated  that  when  first  precipitated  into  the  foaming 
deep,  he  fully  realized  the  hopelessness  of  his  condi- 
tion ;  but  almost  at  the  very  moment  the  recollection 
of  former  events  and  of  former  years  came  rushing 
upon  the  memory.  Its  action  was  intense  and  rapid. 
Everything  was  remembered  with  all  the  distinctness 
of  present  life.  Incidents,  events,  acts,  words — all 
started  up  in  rapid  succession,  till  his  whole  past  life 
seemed  to  be  reflected  as  from  a  mirror.  His  memory 
seemed  to  have  grasped  every  event  from  very  child- 
hood to  middle  life,  and  hung  them  up,  as  though 
painted  on  canvas,  before  the  broad  glance  of  the 
drowning  man.  Almost  by  a  miracle  he  was  plucked 
from  the  very  jaws  of  death;  but  ever  after  was  he 
accustomed  to  dwell  with  astonishment  and  wonder 
upon  the  singular  developments  of  his  memory  while 
the  floods — compassed  him  about,  and  to  declare  that 
he  believed  it  possible  for  the  mind  to  recollect  every- 
thing that  had  ever  come  within  the  range  of  thought 
and  feeling."  * 

Admiral  Beaufort  of  the  British  navy  had  a  similar 
experience  under  similar  circumstances.  "Every  in- 
cident of  my  life,"  said  he,  "seemed  to  glance  across 
my  recollection — not  in  mere  outline,  but  the  whole 
picture  filled  up  with  every  minute  and  collateral 
feature.  The  whole  period  of  my  existence  seemed 
to  be  placed  before  me  in  a  kind  of  panoramic  re- 

*  Treatise,  p.  390. 


'210  THE  IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

view,  and  each  act  of  it  seemed  to  be  accompanied  by 
a  consciousness  of  right  and  wrong." 

Such  instances  might  be  multiplied,  but  it  is  not 
necessary. 

8.  In  other  cases  the  most  astonishing  powers 
of  memory  have  been  exhibited  under  the  excitement 
of  disease. 

In  a  Catholic  town  in  Germany,  a  young  woman 
of  four  or  five-and-twenty,  who  could  neither  read  nor 
write,  was  seized  with  a  nervous  fever,  during  which 
she  was  incessantly  talking  Greek,  Latin,  and  He- 
brew, with  much  pomp  and  distinctness  of  enuncia- 
tion. The  case  attracted  much  attention,  and  many 
sentences  which  she  uttered,  being  taken  down  by 
some  learned  person  present,  were  found  to  be  cohe- 
rent and  intelligible,  each  for  itself,  but  with  little  or 
no  connection  with  each  other.  Of  the  Hebrew  only 
a  small  portion  could  be  traced  to  the  Bible;  the  re- 
mainder was  that  form  of  Hebrew  which  is  usually 
called  Rabbinic.  Ignorant,  and  simple,  and  harm- 
less, as  this  young  woman  was  known  to  be,  no  one 
suspected  any  deception;  and  no  explanation  could 
for  a  long  time  be  given,  although  inquiries  were 
made  for  that  purpose  in  different  families  where  she 
had  resided  as  a  servant. 

Through  the  zeal,  however,  and  philosophical  spirit 
of  a  young  physician,  all  the  necessary  information 
was  in  the  end  obtained.  The  woman  was  of  poor 
parents,  and  at  nine  years  of  age  had  been  kindly 
taken  to  be  brought  up  by  an  old  Protestant  minister, 
who  lived  at  some  distance.  He  was  a  very  learned 
man ;  being  not  only  a  great  Hebraist,  but  acquainted 
also  with  Rabbinical  writings,  the  Greek  and  Latin 


POWER    OF    MEMORY.  271 

• 

fathers.  &c.  The  passages  which  had  been  taken 
down  in  the  delirious  ravings  of  the  young  woman, 
were  found  by  the  physician  precisely  to  agree  with 
passages  in  some  books  in  those  languages  which  had 
formerly  belonged  to  him.  But  these  facts  were  not 
a  full  explanation  of  the  case.  It  appeared,  on 
further  inquiry,  that  the  patriarchal  Protestant  had 
been  in  the  habit  for  many  years  of  walking  up  and 
down  a  passage  of  his  house,  into  which  the  kitchen 
door  opened,  and  to  read  to  himself  with  a  loud  voice 
out  of  his  favorite  books.  This  attracted  the  notice  of 
the  poor  and  ignorant  domestic  whom  he  had  taken 
into  his  family;  the  passages  made  an  impression  on 
her  memory ;  and  although  probably  for  a  long  time 
beyond  the  reach  of  her  recollection  when  in  health, 
they  were  at  last  vividly  restored,  and  were  uttered 
in  the  way  above  mentioned,  in  consequence  of  the 
feverish  state  of  the  physical  system,  particularly  of 
the  brain.* 

9.  Abercrombie  mentions  the  case  of  a  poor  woman, 
sick  in  a  hospital,  who,  during  a  fever,  talked  in  her 
sleep.  The  physician  drew  near  to  hear  what  she 
was  saying,  and  to  ascertain  whether  there  was 
any  coherency  in  her  speech.  She  began  to  talk 
of  the  condition  of  other  patients,  describing  with 
singular  minuteness  the  aspects  of  their  disease. 
The  physician  queried  whether  these  remarks  could 
apply  to  any  of  the  patients  in  the  hospital;  but,  on 
looking  round  at  the  various  sick  beds,  he  could  see 
no  proper  application  whatever.  Calling  some  other 
physicians  to  examine  the  case,  they  all  approached 
the  bedside  and  listened  attentively.  One  of  the 

*  Upham's  Mental  Philosophy,  pp.  185   186. 


272  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

number  remembered  the  face  of  the  woman  as  that 
of  a  patient  who  had  been  in  the  hospital  some  two 
years  before,  sick  with  the  same  fever;  and  when 
the  attendants  were  called,  they  also  recognized  her, 
and,  as  she  murmured  in  her  sleep,  discovered  that 
her  remarks  applied  with  wonderful  precision  to  the 
sick  persons  in  the  hospital  two  years  before.  So 
that  those  impressions  which,  during  her  two  years 
of  comparative  restoration  to  health  had  remained 
entirely  dormant,  now  again  the  moment  the  hand  of 
disease  was  laid  upon  her,  were  quickened  into  this 
strange  life. 

From  cases  like  these,  philosophers  have  con- 
cluded that  no  impression  made  upon  the  mind  is  ever 
utterly  lost.  Such  was  the  conclusion  of  Lord  Bacon, 
and  of  others  after  him. 

As  one  has  well  said,  "The  resurrection  of  memory 
is  a  physical  fact  which  science  has  proved  and  no 
man  can  gainsay.  Every  impression  made  upon  the 
mind  is  abiding.  What  is  written  on  this  tablet 
endures  as  if  it  were  written  on  tables  of  stone. 
There  is  no  oblivion !  The  old  mythological  Water 
of  Lethe,  into  which  a  sad  thought  once  dropped,  was 
fabled  to  be  drowned  forever,  never  flowed  except  in 
the  myth."* 

Though  we  may  think  we  have  utterly  forgotten 
and  lost  a  name,  or  an  event,  yet  such  is  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  soul,  that  some  word  or  incident  may  call 
up  the  long  forgotten  name  or  event,  the  very  next 
moment  of  our  life. 

Lulled  in  the  countless  chambers  of  the  brain. 
Our  thoughts  are  linked  by  many  a  hidden  chain, 

*  Theodore  Tilton.  in  the  Lecture  previously  referred  to. 


POWER    OF    MEMORY.  273 

Awake  but  one,  and  lo,  what  myriads  rise  ! 
Each  stamps  its  image  as  the  other  flies. 

V.  Now  what  is  the  bearing  of  all  these  facts,  illus- 
trating the  nature  and  power  of  the  memory,  upon 
the  question  of  the  soul's  continued  existence  after 
death  ?  Perhaps  we  may  better  understand  their  im- 
port and  force  in  the  light  of  an  illustration  or  two 
drawn  from  the  physical  world. 

1.  A  naturalist  who  has  never  seen  a  honey  bee  is 
called  upon  to  observe  its  habits,  and  ascertain  whether 
it  has  power  to  survive  a  northern  winter,  and  live  on 
through  the  summer,  or  must  perish  like  the  butterfly, 
by  the  first   frosts   of  autumn.     Watching  its  habits 
he  observes,  first,  that  it  feeds  and  lives  on  the  nectar 
and   pollen  gathered  from  flowers.     In  the  second 
place,  he  observes  that  it  is  storing  up  both  these  ele- 
ments of  life  in  a  secure  and  warm  place,  carefully 
sealing    up  every  vessel,   and  eating   nothing  there- 
from, till  the  frosts  have  killed  the  flowers,  when  it 
opens  cell  after  cell  of  its  stores  to  supply  its  daily 
wants. 

Now  without  waiting  for  the  issue  of  the  coming 
spring,  or  even  for  the  effect  of  intense  cold  upon  the 
subject  of  his  observations,  would  not  a  thoughtful 
mind  inevitably  come  to  the  conclusion  that  whatever 
might  be  the  result  in  this  particular  instance,  the 
Creator  designed  this  species  of  insect  to  survive  con- 
finement, cold  and  storm,  and  go  forth  amid  the  sun- 
shine of  other  springs,  to  taste  the  sweetness,  be- 
hold the  beauty  and  breathe  the  fragrance  of  new- 
born flowers,  when  the  rigors  of  winter  have  passed 
away. 

2.  Take  another  illustration :     A  naturalist  who 
18 


274  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

lias  no  knowledge  of  such  an  animal,  is  called  upon 
to  dissect  the  body  of  a  camel,  in  order  to  ascertain  its 
habits,  abode,  &c.  Coming  to  the  stomach,  he  finds 
it  to  consist  of  a  central  sack  into  which  the  food  de- 
scends, and  from  which  it  is  raised  for  further  masti- 
cation, as  is  the  case  with  the  ox,  goat,  &c.  But 
around  this  central  stomach  he  finds  several  other 
subordinate  cavities,  so  constructed  that  when  filled 
their  mouths  are  closed  tightly  by  muscular  action,  or 
opened  at  pleasure.  Moreover,  he  finds  that  some  of 
these  side  cavities  are  filled  with  fresh  water,  while 
others  are  empty ;  and  that  although  the  camel  has 
taken  no  water  for  several  days,  there  is  a  quantity 
of  fresh  water  in  the  stomach,  as  if  he  had  just  been 
drinking.* 

From  these  facts  he  would  infer  that  the  fresh  wa- 
ter in  the  main  stomach  was  from  the  empty  side 
stomachs — that  the  animal  had  power  to  unseal  one 
of  those  reservoirs  and  empty  its  contents  into  the 
stomach  proper  whenever  he  was  thirsty,  or  his  food 
needed  moistening — that  he  could  drink  a  large  sup- 
ply of  water  at  a  time, — and  go  a  long  time  without 
drinking  ;  and  was  therefore  adapted  to  and  designed 
for  long  journeys  over  a  desert  country  where  water 
could  seldom  be  obtained.  Such  would  be  the  testi- 
mony of  "  Reason  and  Nature"  as  to  the  destiny  of 
the  species,  and  its  capability  of  living  amid  burn- 
ing sands,  where  the  antelope  and  the  bison  would  die 

*  Travelers  in  the  deserts  of  Arabia  are  sometimes  obliged  to  slaugh- 
ter a  camel  out  of  their  caravans  in  order  to  save  their  own  lives  by  the 
water  found  in  those  wonderful  reservoirs.  "If  worst  comes  to  tlie 
worst,"  said  an  old  Arab,  "  we  can  sacrifice  one  of  our  camels  for 
the  sake  of  the  water  which  Allah  has  provided  him  with  a  reservoir 
in  his  stomach."  Life  in  the  Desert,  by  L.  Du  Couret,  pp.  251-283. 


1'oWER    oF    MEMORY.  275 

of  thirst.  It  would  in  no  wise  invalidate  the  argu- 
ment to  show  that  in  this  case  the  animal  was  born  in 
a  menagerie,  and  had  never  had  occasion  to  store  up 
water  for  long  journeys  over  burning  deserts.  The 
use  or  disuse  of  his  peculiar  physical  organism  is  an 
indifferent  incident.  His  Creator  has  constructed  the 
species  so  that  they  are  adapted  to  and  capable  of 
such  journeys,  as  no  other  animal  is ;  they  are  there- 
fore made  for  them  ;  and,  as  a  species  destined  to  such 
journeys. 

3.  Let  the  same  process  of  reasoning  be  applied 
to  the  problem  of  immortality.  As  the  bee  stores  up 
the  food  on  which  she  feeds  in  summer  in  quantities 
sufficient  for  the  ensuing  winter,  so  the  mind  trea- 
sures up  in  the  store-house  of  memory  the  elements 
of  her  manifested  life,  and  indicates  unmistakably 
her  power  to  retain  and  under  favorable  circumstances 
to  reproduce  every  idea  ever  committed  to  her  charge. 

But  of  what  avail  would  be  this  wonderful  instinct 
of  the  bee,  if  she  were  destined  to  die  in  autumn,  and 
leave  all  her  treasures  of  food  untasted  ?  Not  to 
speak  irreverently  would  not  such  an  anomaly  be  char- 
acterized as  a  mistake  in  the  economy  of  Nature  ?  Is 
not  that  frugal  instinct  in  itself  a  prophecy  of  con- 
tinued being  in  other  years  ?  So  of  the  faculty  of 
memory — is  it  not  also  a  prophecy  of  the  continued 
being  of  the  soul  when  the  vicissitudes  of  this  mortal 
life  are  forever  past  ? 

And  if  the  physical  economy  of  "the  ship  of  the 
desert,"  in  itself  indicates  both  her  capabilities  and 
her  destination,  does  not  the  faculty  of  memory  indi- 
cate with  equal  clearness  that  the  soul  of  man  is 
adapted  to  the  long  journey  of  immortality,  and  will 


276  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

open  up  all  her  treasures  of  thought  and  of  knowledge 
in  the  world  beyond  the  grave. 

Then  shall  the  soul  around  her  call, 
The  treasures  that  she  gathered  here ; 

And  painted  on  the  eternal  wall, 
The  past  shall  re-appear. 

VI.  The  ability  of  the  soul  to  re-produce,  under 
favorable  circumstances,  all  the  events,  words  and 
thoughts  of  its  past  experience,  has  led  some  to  re- 
gard the  memory  of  man  as  one  of  the  "books"  to 
be  opened  in  the  day  of  judgment,  and  from  which 
all  men  are  to  be  judged.  Rev.  xx.  12.  However  that 
may  be,  of  one  thing  we  may  be  assured,  that  in  the 
life  to  come  all  the  scenes  of  the  present  life  will  rise 
again  to  view  on  the  enduring  tablet  of  memory,  to 
become  a  source  of  joy  or  of  sorrow  through  all  the 
years  of  eternity. 

Each  fainter  trace  that  memory  holds, 

So  darkly  of  departed  years, 
At  one  broad  glance  the  soul  beholds, 

And  all  that  was  at  once  appears  ! 

If  we  add  to  a  memory  that  will  reproduce  all  the 
past ;  even  "  every  vain  and  idle  word,"  a  conscience 
so  quickened  as  not  only  to  discriminate  the  nicest 
shades  of  right  and  wrong,  of  guilt  and  innocency, 
but  also  to  tear  the  soul  with  keenest  sense  of  guilt 
and  of  agonizing  remorse,  may  we  not  have  the  em- 
bodiment of  "  the  worm  that  dieth  not,  and  the  fire 
that  shall  never  be  quenched?"  Mark  ix.  45. 

But  as  this  question  leads  us  beyond  the  range  of 
our  appropriate  inquiry,  we  dismiss  it  to  continue  the 
argument  for  immortality  based  upon  the  powers  of 
the  soul  herself. 


RAPIDITY   OF   THOUGHT.  277 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

POWERS  OF    THE    SOUL    CONTINUED — RAPIDITY  OF    OUR 
MENTAL   PROCESSES. 

In  man  the  more  we  dive,  the  more  we  see 
Heaven's  signet  stamping  an  immortal  make. 

I.  INTUITION  is  defined  as  "  the  act  by  which  the 
mind  perceives  the  agreement  or  disagreement  of  two 
ideas,  or  the  truth  of  things,  immediately,  or  the  mo- 
ment they  are  presented,  without  the  intervention  of 
other  ideas,  or  without  reasoning  or  deduction."* 
This  may  be  sufficiently  correct  for  a  popular  defini- 
tion, and  yet  we  think  it  needs  qualifying.  If  it  had 
said  "without  conscious  reasoning  or  deduction,"  we 
believe  it  would  have  been  more  strictly  correct.  Is 
not  what  we  call  intuition  a  conclusion  reached  by  a 
process  of  reasoning  so  rapid,  that  we  are  simply  un- 
conscious of  it?  Is  not  an  intuition,  so  called,  a 
conclusion  or  judgment,  even  though  reached  in  an 
instant?  and  if  so — is  it  not  based  upon  some  data  or 
premises,  which  are  the  basis  of  the  intuition  ? 

We  may  not  be  able  to  point  out  the  grounds  of 
our  intuition,  in  any  given  case,  or  to  detect  a  pro- 
cess of  reasoning,  and  yet  such  grounds  exist,  beyond 
all  question,  and  govern  our  intuitions ;  and  whether 

*  Webster. 


278  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

conscious  of  it  or  not,  every  intuition  is  a  process  of 
reasoning  instantaneously  consummated.  All  intui- 
tions, therefore,  are  specimens  of  the  rapidity  of  our 
mental  processes. 

II.  The   rapidity  with  which  an   experienced  ac- 
countant will  add  up  long  columns  of  figures,  without 
error,  affords  another  illustration  of  the  same  power. 
How  inconceivably  rapid  must  be  the  mental  action 
in  such  cases.     Beginning  on  the  right  the  form  of 
the  first  figure  is  first  noted,  from  which  the  number 
of  units  it  represents  is  ascertained.     This  noted,  the 
operator  passes  to  the  next,  carrying  with  him  a  dis- 
tinct  idea   of  the    amount   of  the  first  figure.     He 
passes  to  the  second,  notes  its  form,  ascertains  its 
value,  adds  it  to  the  first,  ascertains  the  amount,  and 
with  this  new  amount  passes  to  the  third  figure,  and 
so  on  to  the  end  of  the  first  column,  and  from  column 
to  column.     A  great  variety  of  distinct  acts  take  place 
in  the  mind,  in  regard  to  each  figure ;  and  yet  thousands 
of  persons  will  add  a  column  of  figures  the  height 
of  an  ordinary  ledger  page,  and  extending  to  five  or 
six  figures  in  width,  in  half  the  time  it  will  take  to 
read  this  paragraph. 

III.  The  case  of  Truman  Henry  Safford,  furnishes 
an  illustration  in  point. 

"After  a  very  superficial  attendance  at  a  country 
school  in  Vermont,  with  an  attenuated  frame  and 
feeble  health,  this  boy,  at  the  age  of  nine  years  and 
six  months,  produced  the  "  Youth's  Almanac  for 
1846,"  having  made  all  the  calculations  of  eclipses, 
the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun,  &c.,  &c.,  without 
any  assistance  whatever;  and  that  recently,  in  the 
thirteenth  year  of  his  age,  and  in  the  same  unassisted 


RAPIDITY   OF   THOUGHT.  279 

manner,  he  calculated  the  orbit  of  the  telescopic 
comet  of  November,  1848,  and  with  an  accuracy,  as  I 
am  informed,  which  is  corroborated  by  the  best 
astronomers.  The  interrogatories  were  of  a  very 
difficult  nature,  resolved  mentally  and  according  to 
the  rules  of  science,  and  generally  with  great  in- 
stantaneousness.  For  the  purpose  of  testing  the 
reach  of  his  mind  in  computation,  he  was  finally  asked 
to  "multiply  in  his  head  365,365,365,365,365,365,  by 
365,365,365,365,365,365.  He  flew  round  the  room 
like  a  top,  and  pulled  his  pantaloons  over  the  top  of 
his  boots,  bit  his  hand,  rolled  his  eyes  in  their  sockets, 
until,  in  not  more  than  one  minute,  said  he,  133,491, 
850,208,566,925,016,658,299,941,583,225.  What  was 
still  more  wonderful,  he  began  to  multiply  at  the  left 
hand,  and  to  bring  out  the  answer  from  left  to  right, 
giving  first,  133,491,  &c.  Here,  confounded  above 
measure,  I  gave  up  the  examination."  * 

Here  we  have  the  most  satisfactory  proof  that  a 
mere  boy  multiplied  365,365,365,365,365,365,  by 
365,365,365,365,365,365,  in  "  not  more  than  one 
minute,"  and  gave  the  correct  product! 

Now  whether  it  were  performed  in  a  day  or  a 
minute,  one  thing  is  certain;  and  that  is,  that  the 
numerical  value  of  each  figure  must  have  been  dis- 
tinctly comprehended,  and  also  its  increased  value, 
as  affected  by  its  distance  from  the  first  figure  on 
the  right.  Then  each  of  the  separate  figures  of  the 
first  line,  must  be  multiplied  by  each  of  those  in 
the  second;  and  finally  the  result  of  each  distinct 
multiplication  must  be  added  up,  a><  one  grand  total. 

But    there    are    eighteen  distinct   figures    in    each 

*  Fainc  on  the  Soul,  InUinct  and  Life,  pp.  51,  51. 


280  THE   IMMORTALITY  OF   THE   SOUL. 

line.  To  multiply  the  eighteen  figures  in  the  first 
line,  by  the  first  figure  of  the  second  line,  will  re- 
quire eighteen  distinct  multiplications,  the  product  of 
which  will  be  unlike  in  each  distinct  instance ;  and  as 
there  are  eighteen  distinct  figures  by  which  the  first 
line  is  to  be  multiplied,  there  must  be  three  hundred 
and  twenty-four  distinct  multiplications,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  effort  of  remembering  each  figure  of  the 
products,  and  their  places,  and  of  adding  up  the 
whole,  mentally,  without  slate  or  blackboard.  And 
all  this  in  one  minute !  It  seems  incredible,  and  yet 
it  cannot  reasonably  be  doubted. 

IV.  Another  illustration  of  this  wonderful  power 
of  the  soul,  is  found  in  the  phenomena  of  dreaming. 
Events  which  would  take  whole  days  or  weeks  are 
sometimes  gone  through  with  in  our  dreams  in  a 
few  minutes.  The  jarring  of  a  door,  which  awakens 
us  by  its  opening,  may  cause  us  to  dream  of  rob- 
bers, or  other  calamities,  in  the  very  instant  of 
awaking. 

"  A  friend  of  mine,"  says  Abercrombie,  "dreamed 
that  he  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  spent  a  fortnight 
in  America.  In  embarking  on  his  return,  he  fell 
into  the  sea;  and,  having  awoke  with  the  fright, 
discovered  that  he  had  not  been  asleep  above  ten 
minutes." 

Count  Lavallette,  who  some  years  since  was  con- 
demned to  death  in  France,  relates  a  dream  which 
occurred  during  his  imprisonment  as  follows  :  "  One 
night  while  I  was  asleep,  the  clock  of  the  Palais  de 
Justice  struck  twelve  and  awoke  me.  I  heard  the 
gate  open  to  relieve  the  sentry;  but  fell  asleep  again 
immediately.  In  this  sleep  I  dreamed  that  I  was 


RAPIDITY    OF    THOUGHT.  281 

standing  in  the  Rue  St.  Honore*,  at  the  corner  of  the 
Rue  de  1'Echelle.  A  melancholy  darkness  spread 
around  me;  all  was  still;  nevertheless,  a  low  and 
uncertain  sound  arose.  All  of  a  sudden,  I  per- 
ceived at  the  bottom  of  the  street,  and  advancing 
towards  me,  a  troop  of  cavalry,  the  men  and  horses, 
however,  all  flayed.  This  horrible  troop  continued 
passing  in  a  rapid  gallop,  and  casting  frightful  looks 
on  me.  Their  march,  I  thought,  continued  for  five 
hours ;  and  they  were  followed  by  an  immense  number 
of  artillery-wagons,  full  of  bleeding  corpses,  whose 
limbs  still  quivered ;  a  disgusting  smell  of  blood  and 
bitumen  almost  choked  me.  At  length  the  iron  gate 
of  the  prison  shutting  with  great  force,  awoke  me 
again.  I  made  my  repeater  strike;  it  was  no  more 
than  midnight;  so  that  the  horrible  phantasmagoria 
had  lasted  no  more  than  two  or  three  minutes ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  time  necessary  for  relieving  the  sentry 
and  shutting  the  gate.  The  cold  was  severe  and 
watchword  short.  The  next  day  the  turnkey  con- 
firmed my  calculations." 

"  Our  dreams  not  unfrequently  go  through  all  the 
particulars  of  some  long  journey,  or  of  some  military 
expedition,  or  of  a  circumnavigation  of  the  globe, 
or  of  other  long  and  perilous  undertakings,  in  a 
less  number  of  hours  than  it  would  take  weeks  or 
months,  orrstven  years,  actually  to  perform  them. 
We  go  from  la^MJ^'  to  land,  and  from  city  to  city, 
and  into  desert  places;  we  experience  transitions 
from  joy  to  sorrow,  and  from  poverty  to  wealth;  we 
are  occupied  in  the  scenes  and  transactions  of  many 
long  months;  and  then  our  slumbers  are  scattered. 


232  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

and  behold  they  are  the  doings  of  a  fleeting  watch  of 
the  night."* 

V.  The   power  of  the   soul   to  conduct   her   pro- 
cesses with   inconceivable  celerity  is  seen  again  in 
those  instances  of  fright  and  of  apparent  drowning, 
recorded  in  a  previous  chapter,  f     Not  only  is  me- 
mory true    to  reproduce  the    past,  without  a    trace 
obliterated,  but  it  is  done  in  an  instant.     So  far  as 
reviewing   every    event   of    our   past    experience    is 
concerned,  so  rapid   is  our  mental  action,  under  cir- 
cumstances adapted  to  call  into  play  the  power  of 
the    soul,    that    it    is    but    the    work    of   a   moment. 
From   such  developments  we  are  warranted    in  the 
conclusion    that   under   favorable    circumstances    the 
soul  of  man  may  be  capable  of  minutely  reviewing 
the  history  of  our  globe  from  the  dawn  of  time  to  its 
close,  in  a  single  liour !     We  must  not  judge  of  the 
future  even  by  our  sublimest  achievements   in    this 
mortal  life.     It  doth   not  yet   appear  what  we   shall 
be.     Oh  what  glory  and  bliss  may  await  the  right- 
eous, even  in  the  exercise  of  his  mental  powers  alone ! 
With  the  universe  for  his  text  book,  a  world  taken  at 
a  lesson,  and  eternity  for  his  school-days,  who   can 
anticipate  the  lofty  goal  to  which  he  may  at  length 
ascend  ?     Though  now  a  little  lower  than  the  angels, 
may  not   the   period    arrive  in    the    glorious  future, 
when    the    present    attainments    of    seraphim    and 
cherubim    shall    appear    to    God's    ransomed    people 
but  as  the  rudest  elements  of  knowledge,  the  mere 
alphabet  of  man's  intellectual  endowments. 

VI.  Still  another  illustration  of  the  rapidity  of  our 

*Upham'.<  Mental  Philosophy,  pp.  113,  lit. 
f  See  (  .  .1  ~c  268,  of  chapter  xv. 


RAPIDITY    OF    THOUGHT.  283 

mental  processes,  may  be  found  in  the  flights  of  the 
imagination.  Let  this  power  be  excited,  and  how 
marvelous  the  speed  of  thought ! 

How  swift  is  a  glance  of  the  mind, 
Compared  with  the  speed  of  its  flight, 

The  tempest  itself  lags  behind, 

And  the  swift-winged  arrows  of  light. 

Or  as  another  has  more  strikingly  depicted  the 
same  power  of  the  soul, 

How  swift  thought  travels.     So  the  cannon's  flash, 

The  swift-winged  lightnings,  and  the  whirlwind's  dash, 

Much  slower  move.     Hoarse  thunder's  leaping  sound, 

Hurled  orbs  careering  through  the  void  profound, 

And  Time,  swift  charrioteer,  all  fly  behind 

The  speed  of  thought !     Sunlight,  our  servant  kind, 

Along  the  extended  void  each  minute  flies, 

Twelve  million  miles  to  greet  our  waiting  eyes ; 

Yet  swifter  thought.     Yes.  this  winged  power  of  soul, 

Can  travel  round  the  globe,  call  at  each  pole, 

Visit  the  Moon,  the  portals  of  the  Sun, 

Thence  step  from  world  to  world,  through  systems  run, 

O'er  fields  of  stars  where  blazing  comets  stray, 

To  Nature's  verge  ;  trace  back  time's  traveled  way, 

Six  thousand  years  to  where  creation  rose, 

Thence  back  and  onward  to  creation's  close ; 

To  Heaven's  metropolis  where  seraphs  burn, 

And,  but  one  minute  gone,  to  earth  return, 

Without  the  least  fatigue  ;  but  ready  quite, 

To  stretch  her  wings,  and  take  another  flight.* 

Such  is  the  celerity  with  which  the  soul  is  capable 
of  carrying  on  her  various  processes  of  remembering 
and  reasoning  and  imagination.  How  wonderful, 
then,  how  subtle  and  ethereal  must  be  that  mysterious 
nature  which  is  capable  of  such  feats  of  activity.  She 
has  no  inertia  to  be  overcome  by  mechanical  force  ;  no 
liability  to  burst  asunder  like  a  Sheffield  grind-stone, 

*•  Triumph  of  Truth,  by  Rev.  Charle.  Gile:. 


284  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

from  her  too  rapid  revolutions ;  and  no  tendency  to 
spontaneous  combustion  from  excessive  friction. 

Though  she  act  with  the  speed  of  lightning,  there 
is  no  material  manifestation,  no  friction,  no  noise. 
Though  she  outstrips  the  sunbeams  in  the  race,  her 
form  shall  cast  no  shadow  as  she  passes,  nor  jostle  a 
dew-drop  from  the  morning  flowers.  All  this  she  can 
do  because  she  is  a  spirit.  Were  she  of  earth,  she 
must  needs  move  like  earthly  things,  and  like  them, 
might  perish  at  last ;  but  spurning  the  dull  tedious- 
ness  of  inert  matter,  she  acts  like  a  celestial  being, 
and  thus  proclaims,  both  her  title  to  and  her  fitness 
for  an  immortal  state  of  existence. 


HER   VAST    ACHIEVEMENTS.  285 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

POWERS   OF   THE    SOUL   CONTINUED — CAPABILITIES   OF 
IMPROVEMENT,    AND    VAST   ACHIEVEMENTS. 

CONTINUING  our  analysis  of  the  powers  and  sus- 
ceptibilities of  the  soul,  let  us  now  look  at  her  capa- 
city for  improvement,  as  compared  with  the  lower 
animals,  and  as  in  some  measure  attested  by  her 
achievements  even  during  this  brief  and  inauspicious 
life. 

I.  That  reason  and  instinct  are  not  identical,  we 
shall  not  pause  to  argue  at  length.  When  we  see  the 
lower  tribes  endowed  with  instinct  to  select  their  food  ; 
swim  if  thrown  into  the  water ;  hide  upon  the  ap- 
proach of  danger,  &c.,  from  the  day  of  birth, — to  mi- 
grate with  unerrring  precision,  both  as  to  the  time  and 
the  direction,  and  a  thousand  other  things  for  which 
man  has  no  corresponding  instinct,  it  is  obvious  that 
the  Creator  gave  instinct  to  be  the  guide  of  the  lower 
animals,  leaving  man  to  be  governed  by  the  higher 
endowment  of  reason.  Hence  man  has  but  a  single 
instinct,  and  that  is  to  draw  his  food  from  his  mother's 
breast ;  and  even  that  is  supplanted  by  reason  before 
six  months  have  elapsed.  On  the  other  hand  the 
birds  of  the  air,  the  quadrupeds,  the  insect  tribes, 
and  even  the  fish  of  the  sea,  are  all  richly  endowed 


280  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

with  various  instincts,  which  continue  through  life, 
but  have  scarce  a  semblance  of  reason. 

II.  But  though  the  endowment  of  instinct  usually 
remains  during  the  life  of  its  possessor,  there  is  no  im- 
provement.    The  beaver  builds  his  dam  and  his  house 
during  the  last  year  of  his  life,  precisely  as  he  did 
the  first ;  and  those  of  this  generation  precisely  like 
those  of   a  thousand  generations  past.     So  of   the 
bee ;   she  builds  her  honey-comb  to-day,  precisely  as 
in  the  days  of  Samson  or  of  David,  three  thousand 
years  ago.     And  so  on  through  all  the  animal  tribes. 
There  is  no  progress ;  no  invention,  no   improvement 
upon  the  past,  no  building  upon  the  acquisitions  of 
preceding  generations.     Though  some  of  them  may 
live  for  a  century,  they  reach  their  zenith  of  know- 
ledge in  a  few  short  years,  at  longest,  and  can  go  no 
further. 

A  horse  becomes  accustomed  to  his  stable  ; — it  takes 
fire,  but  it  is  impossible  to  remove  him  except  by  de- 
ception or  force ;  and  even  when  fairly  out,  if  left 
free  to  follow  his  instincts  he  will  rush  back  into  the 
flames  and  perish.  And  yet  he  is  one  of  the  most 
sagacious  of  animals.  But  capable  as  he  may  be  of 
improvement  in  minor  things,  probably  a  century  of 
training  would  fail  to  give  him  reason  enough  not  to 
rush  into  the  jaws  of  certain  death,  merely  because  he 
has  been  in  the  habit  of  being  fed  and  of  resting  in 
a  building  now  wrapped  in  flames.  Such  is  the  qual- 
ity of  the  "reason"  which  materialism  insists  upon 
according  to  the  brute  creation. 

III.  From  these  undeniable  facts,  look  now  at  the 
progressive  character  of  reason.     Step  by  step  and 
link  by  link,  the  soul  moves  onward  and  upward  from 


HER    VAST    ACHIEVEMENTS.  287 

one  principle  to  another,  and  from  premises  to  remote 
conclusions,  till  she  plants  herself  above  the  stars. 
So  far  as  we  know,  there  is  no  limit  to  her  capacity 
for  storing  up  knowledge.  Failing  bodily  powers 
may  arrest  her  progress  and  obscure  her  light  for  a 
time,  but  this  argues  nothing  against  continued  vigor 
in  the  intermediate  state  nor  when  the  soul  shall  come 
to  dwell  in  her  resurrection  body.  Even  in  this  life, 
both  the  field  of  investigation  and  the  capacity  of  im- 
provement may  be  regarded  as  unlimited. 

Were  man  to  live  coeval  with  the  sun, 
The  patriarch  pupil  would  be  learning  still, 
Yet,  dying,  leave  his  lesson  half  unlearned. 

With  all  the  disabilities  under  which  the  mind  of 
man  exists  in  our  present  fallen  state,  the  capability 
of  endless  progress  in  knowledge  is  as  apparent  as 
the  ability  to  acquire  knowledge  at  all.  In  this 
we  discover  the  broad  line  of  demarkation  which  dis- 
tinguishes man  from  the  beast  that  perishes. 

IV.  In  further  illustration  of  the  capacity  of  man 
for  acquiring  knowledge,  look  at  his  actual  achieve- 
ments in  the  various  fields  of  human  research.  Take 
the  sciences,  for  example.  Here  is  one  man,  who 
like  Solomon,  knew  every  plant,  and  shrub,  and 
flower,  and  tree,  from  the  cedar  of  Lebanon,  to  the 
hyssop  upon  the  wall.  1  Kings  iv.  33.  He  can  tell 
you  of  the  structure,  and  habits,  and  abode  of  each, 
whether  in  the  valleys  or  on  the  hills,  on  the  land  or 
in  the  depths  of  the  sea.  Another  makes  geology 
his  study,  and  can  tell  you  the  origin,  and  age,  and 
peculiarities  of  every  rock,  and  gem,  and  mineral, 
and  fossil  in  all  the  earth.  It  is  his  delight  to 
dwell  amid  "  the  chief  things  of  the  ancient  moun- 


288  THE   IMMORTALITY  OF   THE   SOUL. 

tains,  and  the  precious  things  of  the  lasting  hills." 
Deut.  xxxiii.  13.  Another  is  equally  familiar  with 
the  geography  of  every  part  of  the  globe,  its  conti- 
nents and  oceans,  rivers  and  mountains,  climate  and 
productions.  And  so  of  optics  and  magnetism,  pneu- 
matics and  chemistry,  natural  history  and  astronomy, 
mathematics  and  languages,  mental  philosophy  and 
logic,  rhetoric  and  history,  physiology  and  medicine, 
law  and  theology,  architecture,  navigation,  mechanics, 
invention,  poetry,  sculpture,  and  painting;  and  a 
thousand  other  minor  departments  of  knowledge  and 
skill  which  we  cannot  enumerate. 

And  how  wonderful  the  elevation  to  which  man  has 
attained  in  each  of  these  departments. 

Earth's  disembowel'd  !  measured  are  the  skies  ! 
Stars  are  detected  in  their  deep  recess ! 
Creation  widens  !   Vanquish'd  Nature  yields  ! 
Her  secrets  are  extorted  !    Art  prevails  ! 
What  monuments  of  genius,  spirit,  power ! 

The  astronomer  will  predict  a  transit  or  an  eclipse 
to  a  minute  a  thousand  years  to  come,  and  tell  you 
precisely  where  it  will  or  will  not  be  visible  on 
the  earth's  surface,  and  its  precise  extent  and  dura- 
tion. So  familiar  is  he  with  the  mechanism  of  the 
heavens,  and  with  "the  geometry  of  God."  The 
chemist  will  separate  the  gold  from  the  silver,  though 
thoroughly  fused  and  blended  together;  or  detect  the 
smallest  quantity  of  arsenic,  though  scattered  through 
the  whole  human  body.  The  physiologist  knows 
every  bone,  and  muscle,  and  artery,  and  vein,  and 
nerve,  and  gland,  and  organ,  from  the  crown  of  the 
head  to  the  sole  of  the  foot,  with  their  proper  offices, 
and  functions,  and  perhaps  the  symptoms  of  every 


HER   VAST    ACHIEVEMENTS.  289 

disease,  and  the  effect  of  every  remedy.  And  thus 
on  through  every  department  of  human  research. 

No  matter  what  speciality  we  single  out,  the  amount 
that  is  already  known  by  man  in  that  single  depart- 
ment is  almost  overwhelming  to  our  contemplations. 
Think  of  all  that  is  known  of  language,  of  history,  of 
mathematics,  of  architecture,  and  of  the  mechanical 
arts.  Look  at  the  immense  libraries,  embracing 
scores  of  volumes  in  each  branch  of  study.  Look  at 
the  collections  of  minerals,  and  shells,  and  birds,  and 
quadrupeds,  and  reptiles,  and  fishes,  and  insects 
gathered  by  man,  to  aid  him  in  his  investigations. 
There  are  enough  objects  of  scientific  interest  in  the 
Smithsonian  Institute  in  Washington,  or  in  the 
Academy  of  Natural  Science  in  Philadelphia,  to  be- 
wilder and  almost  overwhelm  an  ordinary  observer. 
Go  to  the  Patent  Office  in  Washington  and  look  at 
the  fifty  thousand  models,  more  or  less,  deposited 
there  by  inventors.  Think  of  the  research  and  mental 
power  of  which  each  model  is  an  embodiment. 

In  a  word  the  height  of  knowledge  to  which  man 
has  attained  in  each  department  of  skill  and  of  know- 
ledge is  almost  overwhelming  to  the  common  under- 
standing. And  yet,  judging  from  the  achievements 
of  the  last  half  century,  our  progress  even  in. this 
world  is  but  just  begun.  Look  at  the  advance  in  the 
use  of  steam  since  Robert  Fulton  launched  his  first 
steam  boat.  So  of  the  daguerreotype,  of  telegraphing, 
of  printing,  and  stereotyping,  and  a  thousand  other 
branches  of  human  industry. 

Whose  footsteps  these  ? — Immortals  have  been  here, 
Could  less  than  souls  immortal  this  have  done  ? 
Earth's  covered  o'er  with  proofs  of  souls  immortal, 
And  proofs  of  Immortality  forget. 
19 


290  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE   SOUL. 

But  we  must  forbear.  The  mind  grows  weary 
under  the  contemplation  of  even  the  briefest  outline 
of  the  accomplished  attainments  of  the  human  soul. 

V.  But  it   is  not   necessary  to  embrace  all  this   in 
order  to  secure  a  foundation  for  the  inference   that 
the  soul  of  man  is  immortal.     The  capability  of  un- 
limited progress  is  seen  in  the  development  of  the 
mind  in  each  particular  case,  without  this  overwhelm- 
ing survey  of  the  already  hoarded  treasures  of  the 
immortal  spirit.     The  locomotive  that  comes  thunder- 
ing  along   the  valleys,  and  burrowing  through  the 
hills  with  its  thousands  of  passengers,  or  its  hundreds 
of  tons  of  merchandise,  ascending  the  steep  grade  like 
a  Titan,  and  scorning  fatigue,  and  yet  manageable  as 
an  infant,  proclaims  by  every  shout  that  it  sends  out 
on  the  air,  reverberating  along  the  hills,  "my  builder 
is  immortal!"     And  such  is  the  voice  of  every  cotton 
factory,  every  cathedral,  every  steamer,  every  sus- 
pension bridge,  every  iron-clad  war  ship,  every  steam 
printing-press,    every    sewing    or    knitting-machine, 
every  chronometer,  or  mariner's  compass,  diving-bell, 
or  balloon. 

The  works  of  man  are  the  witnesses  of  his  capacity 
for  improvement,  the  living  monument  attesting  his 
adaptation  to  another  state  of  existence. 

VI.  Should  it  be  replied  that  although  the  amount 
of  knowledge  acquired  by  man  is  almost  inconceivably 
vast,  no  one  mind  has  comprehended  it  all — that  it 
has  been  gathered  by  different  persons,  in  different 
lands  and  ages,  by  each  pursuing  a  speciality;  we 
admit  the  fact,   but  deny  that  it  vitiates  the  argu- 
ment.    Why  does   the  linguist,  for  instance,  devote 
his  life  to  the  study  of  language?     Is  it  because  he  is 


HER    VAST    ACHIEVEMENT.-. 

incapable  of  learning  history,  or  science,  or  law,  or 
medicine?  By  no  means;  but  because  this  life  is  too 
short  to  allow  him  to  explore  the  whole  field.  J^ike 
a  poor  student,  who  can  afford  but  a  single  term  at 
an  academy,  and  who,  wishing  to  turn  his  opportuni- 
ties to  the  best  account,  selects  writing  and  book- 
keeping as  his  studies,  and  devotes  all  his  time  and 
energies  to  them;  so  with  man  here.  His  student 
life  is  too  short  for  him  to  pursue  the  entire  course 
which  the  Creator  has  placed  before  him.  He  must 
choose  his  speciality  and  pursue  it,  turn  his  attain- 
ments to  the  best  account  during  this  short  life,  and 
await  the  developments  of  the  world  to  come. 

It  is  not,  then,  a  want  of  capacity  that  restricts  him, 
but  a  want  of  time.  How  often  have  individuals  been 
found  who  were  equally  at  home  in  several  vast  fields 
of  learning.  And  suppose  vigor,  and  life,  and  oppor- 
tunities were  extended  for  centuries,  who  can  say 
that  the  soul  of  one  man  is  not  fully  competent  to 
acquire  all  the  knowledge  within  the  reach  of  man- 
kind? That  the  human  soul  is  capable  of  this  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  With  the  universe  for  our  text-book, 
and  eternity  for  our  school-days,  well  may  the  apostle 
say,  "it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be." 

VII.  Let  us  now  apply  these  facts,  illustrative  of 
the  powers  of  the  soul,  to  the  question  of  her  con- 
tinued existence  after  death.  Have  they  such  scope 
in  this  brief  life,  as  to  justify  their  bestowment  by  an 
all-wise  Creator  ?  Would  a  kind  parent  send  his  son 
to  toil  over  Greek,  and  Latin,  and  mathematics,  -who 
knew  that  he  must  die  before  he  could  graduate? 
And  is  not  the  Deity  equally  economical  in  the  be- 
stowment of  powers  and  opportunities?  If  so.  the 


292  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

very  capacity  of  the  human  soul  for  endless  improve- 
ment, is  both  a  token  and  a  pledge  that  her  way  shall 
be  ^nward,  and  that  she  is  destined  to  another  and  an 
endless  state  of  existence. 

Say,  can  a  soul  possessed 

Of  such  extensive,  deep,  tremendous  powers, 

Enlarging  still,  be  but  a  finer  breath, 

Of  spirits  dancing  through  their  tubes, 

And  then  forever  lost  in  vacant  air  ? 

"When  I  consider,"  says  Cicero,  "  the  wonderful 
activity  of  the  mind,  so  great  a  memory  of  what  is 
past,  and  such  a  capacity  of  penetrating  into  the 
future;  when  I  behold  such  a  number  of  arts  and 
sciences,  and  such  a  multitude  of  discoveries  thence 
arising;  I  believe,  and  am  firmly  persuaded,  that  a 
nature  which  contains  so  many  things  within  itself 
cannot  be  mortal."* 

The  progressive  character  of  reason,  and  the  capa- 
bility of  the  soul  for  unlimited  improvement,  con- 
stitute a  natural  argument  for  immortality  that  might 
well  impress  the  mind  of  a  heathen  philosopher. 
And  if  it  was  of  weight  then,  when  science  and  the 
arts  were  but  in  their  infancy,  how  is  it  now,  when 
the  achievements  of  the  human  mind  are  augmented 
an  hundred  fold  ?  And  yet  our  education  is  but  just 
begun.  We  see  but  through  a  glass  darkly,  and  know 
but  in  part.  We  have  capacity  for  limitless  improve- 
ment, but  lack  time  and  opportunity  for  full  develop- 
ment. Shall,  then  these  latent  powers  slumber  un- 
improved forever?  Are  not  the  tiny  unspread  wings 
of  the  chrysalis  a  sure  omen  and  pledge  of  its 
destination  to  flit  from  field  to  field  and  from  flower 

*De  Senectute,  Cap.  21. 


HER  VAST    ACHIEVEMENTS.  293 

to  flower,  as  the   gorgeous   butterfly?*     So  of  the 
powers  of  the  soul,  as  yet  undeveloped  in  this  life. 

Nor  are  our  powers  to  perish  immature  ; 

But  after  feeble  effort  here,  beneath 

A  brighter  sun,  and  in  a  nobler  soil, 

Transplanted  from  this  sublunary  bed, 

Shall  flourish  fair,  and  put  forth  all  their  bloom. 

* "  The  worm  that  crawls  upon  the  ground  and  prepares  its  own 
grave  in  which  to  wait  for  its  coming  transformation,  yet  bears  on  its 
unsightly  form  those  very  prominences  which  mark  the  places  of  gold 
and  silver  spangles  on  the  wings  of  the  released  and  soaring  insect." 


294  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

IMMORTALITY  INFERABLE    FROM   THE    NATURE    OF  OUE 
DESIRES. 

Our  heads,  our  hearts,  our  passions,  and  our  powers, 
Speak  the  same  language,  call  us  to  the  skies. 

IN  the  last  three  chapters  we  have  spoken  some- 
what at  length  of  the  powers  of  the  soul,  as  furnishing 
a  natural  argument  for  immortality.  Let  us  now 
turn  from  this  survey  of  our  intellectual  energies,  to 
the  contemplation  of  our  desires. 

1.  The  thirst  for  knowledge  which  is  so  common  to 
man,  and  which  is  exhibited  in  the  natural  curiosity 
of  all  men,  as  well  as  in  the  toils  and  achievements 
of  the  student,  is  incapable  of  satisfactory  explana- 
tion, except  upon  the  hypothesis  of  a  future  state  of 
existence. 

How  true  is  it,  that  "the  eye  is  not  satisfied  with 
seeing,  nor  the  ear  filled  with  hearing."  Prov.  i.  8. 
No  matter  how  much  knowledge  one  has  acquired,  he 
still  thirsts  and  toils  for  more,  till  failing  bodily 
powers  arrest  his  upward  progress,  and  terminate  his 
earthly  being  in  the  midst  of  the  race,  his  soul  more 
conscious  of  its  powers  and  capabilities,  than  ever  be- 
fore, and  more  eager  to  reach  a  higher  goal,  than  at 
the  beginning  of  its  journey. 


NATURE    OF    OUR    DESIRES.  295 

"I  know  not,"  said  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  "what  I 
may  appear  to  the  world;  but  to  myself  I  seem  to 
have  been  only  like  a  boy  playing  on  the  sea-shore, 
and  diverting  myself  in  now  and  then  finding  a 
smoother  pebble  or  a  prettier  shell  than  ordinary, 
whilst  the  great  ocean  of  truth  lay  all  undiscovered 
before  me.  And  yet,  these  'smoother  pebbles," 
which  he  had  found,  were  the  laws  of  gravitation 
which  hold  the  stars  in  their  serene  courses,  standing 
as  pillars  of  adamant  underneath  them;  these  "pret- 
tier shells,"  were  the  method  of  Fluxions  and  the 
Binomial  Theorem,  a  theory  of  colors  established 
upon  thousands  of  costly  experiments,  and  laws  of 
light  so  subtle  and  beautiful  that  their  imprint  upon 
science  seemed  to  give  it  a  new  and  celestial  illumina- 
tion." 

"When  William  Herschell,  dissatisfied  with  the 
musical  profession  to  which  he  had  been  bred,  de- 
termined to  devote  himself  to  the  study  of  the  stars, 
and  to  the  minute  investigation  of  their  motions  and 
laws,  he  found  no  telescope  that  could  answer  the 
demands  of  his  exquisite  and  searching  mind.  He 
therefore  determined  to  construct  one  for  himself; 
and  after  what  seemed  to  others  a  marvelous  labor, 
he  completed  a  refractor  five  feet  in  length.  But 
this  was  not  sufficient ;  and  speedily  transcending  it 
he  turned  from  the  heavens,  and  commenced  the  con- 
struction of  another  more  adequate  to  his  enlarged 
wants,  not  ceasing  from  the  effort  till  it  was  re- 
warded by  the  completion  of  an  instrument  seven 
feet  in  length,  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  '  optic 
glass  '  at  that  time  possessed  by  any  similar  ob- 
server. 


296  THE   IMMORTALITY  OF   THE   SOUL. 

"  But  still  this  could  not  give  him  all  the  answers 
which  he  sought  to  his  nightly  inquiries ;  so  that  the 
labors  which  had  been  for  a  little  suspended  were 
again  renewed  to  construct  another,  now  of  ten  feet ; 
and  yet  a  little  while  later,  another  still,  of  twenty 
feet  in  focal  length.  And  it  was  not  till  at  last  he 
had  planned  and  built  that  magnificent  instrument 
erected  at  Slough,  with  its  tube  of  forty  feet  in 
length,  slung  up  amid  pillars,  braces,  and  beams,  like 
a  very  mortar  of  observations  bombarding  the  skies, 
— with  its  speculum  of  almost  fifty  inches  in  super- 
ficial diameter,  and  with  its  magnifying  power  of 
6,500 — that  he  was  measurably  satisfied  with  his 
apparatus  for  study. 

"And  even  then,  it  is  on  record  that  this  equip- 
ment did  not  fully  meet  his  desires ;  and  that  nothing 
but  what  seemed  the  insuperable  difficulties  of  the 
work  at  his  age,  prevented  the  erection  of  a  still  more 
stupendous  instrument,  before  which  the  new  nebula 
which  he  had  discovered  should  be  resolved  into  suns, 
or  be  shown  the  misty  seed-plots  of  worlds,  and  by 
whose  continued  micometrical  measurements  of  the 
relations  of  the  fixed  stars,  the  elements  of  the  parallax 
should  at  last  be  ascertained. 

"So  always  the  scientific  judgment  of  man  is  in- 
stinctively running  forward  to  new  attainments,  and 
a  more  complete  mastery.  It  treats  all  instruments, 
the  most  elaborate  and  complete,  as  the  traveler  upon 
the  mountain  treats  the  staff  which  he  has  cut  in  a 
hedge  by  the  way-side ;  only  using  it  as  a  helper,  and 
throwing  it  away  when  the  end  has  been  gained,  or 
retaining  it  as  a  memento  of  the  course  it  has 
assisted.  It  will  never  pause  satisfied,  this  faculty 


NATURE    OF    OUR    DESIRES.  297 

of  the  judgment,  with  any  result  accessible  in  time ; 
but  conscious  of  capacities  unexhausted  by  use,  and 
superior  to  any  defined  acquirement,  it  will  press 
still  upward  till  the  universe  shall  be  scrutinized,  and 
then  only  will  rest  when  clearly  and  fully  it  has  re- 
produced by  its  analysis  the  thought  of  the  Almighty. 

"It  is  very  instructive  and  impressive  to  observe, 
too,  how  age,  in  the  absence  of  physical  disease,  and 
of  protracting  pain,  does  not  oppose  or  retard  this 
spontaneous  movement.  The  principle  of  curiosity, 
as  an  intellectual  principle,  the  desire  for  true  and 
satisfying  knowledge, — and  the  power  of  the  judg- 
ment to  satisfy  this  desire,  exploring  and  explaining 
what  attracts  its  attention, — both  grow  as  they  are 
used,  while  that  use  is  legitimate  and  fills  God's 
plan;  and  they  are  never  so  strong,  unless  sickness 
exhausts  and  shatters  the  frame,  as  when  the  studies 
already  prosecuted  have  been  largest  and  most  pro- 
found. To  the  end  of  his  life,  the  student  whose 
frame  remains  unshaken,  writes  on  morals  and  his- 
tory, on  science  and  on  fine  art,  and  his  inquiries 
in  all  the  departments  of  nature  are  marked  by  as 
keen  and  strenuous  an  enthusiasm  as  when  in  his 
youth  he  traversed  the  hills  and  the  valleys  on  foot. 
As  the  skiff,  which  the  boy  builds,  grows  at  last  to 
the  steamship,  and  the  hut  of  the  pioneer,  to  the 
palace  which  the  citizen  rears  and  adorns, — while  yet 
neither  of  these  is  felt  to  be  final  with  him,  or 
adequate  to  the  highest  conception  he  can  form, — 
so  the  thought  of  the  child  expands  and  accumulates 
to  the  science  of  manhood,  and  still  is  admitted  in- 
sufficient. 

"In  this,  then,  we  see,  unmistakably  declared,  the 


298  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

capacity  of  the  soul  for  still  higher  attainments, 
through  the  use  of  its  constructive  and  analytic 
power  examinining  truth,  when  it  passes  from  the 
present  to  a  future  state  of  being.  The  fact  that  it 
goes  on  still  triumphing  and  enlarging  as  long  as  it 
here  is  properly  used, — unexhausted  by  its  endeavors, 
yet  still  unsatisfied  with  any  result,  so  far  as  we  can 
follow  or  trace  it, — seems  a  promise  and  the  pro- 
phecy, if  not  the  proof  of  the  fact,  that  if  its  existence 
outlasts  that  of  the  body,  a  yet  higher  mission,  on  a 
more  noble  sphere,  may  be  hereafter  given  it  to  ac- 
complish. Having  looked  at  the  stars  from  beneath, 
and  from  afar,  it  may,  with  superior  and  immediate 
vision  look  upon  them  from  above,  when  treading  on 
the  pavement,  whose  dust  they  are."* 

"Were  a  man  sure,"  says  Dr.  Moore,  "that  he 
could  not  possibly  possess  a  better  than  this  earthly 
life,  to  look  off  from  this  dull  cold  spot  would  only 
be  to  aggravate  his  doom.  The  glory  of  distant 
worlds  would  fall  like  a  blight  upon  his  being,  for  it 
would  suggest  possibilities  of  intelligence  and  delight 
forever  beyond  his  reach,  "f 

'Tis  Immortality,  'tis  that  alone 

Amid  life's  pains,  abasements,  emptiness, 

The  soul  can  comfort,  elevate,  and  fill. 

II.  The  desire  to  be  remembered  on  earth  after  we 
are  dead,  may  also  be  reckoned  among  the  indices  of 
our  coming  immortality. 

How  few  are  willing  to  be  forgotten  when  the  grave 
shall  cover  them. 

*  Graham    Lectures,  by  Rev.  Richard  S.  Storrs,  Jr.,  D.D.  pp.  290- 
294. 

f  Power  of  the  Soul.  .<•<•..  HxrjirrV  <"!..  p.  9. 


NATURE    OF    OUR   DESIRES.  299 

For  who,  to  dumb  forgetfulness  a  prey. 

This  pleasing  anxious  being  e'er  resign'd, 
Left  the  warm  precincts  of  the  cheerful  day, 

Nor  cast  one  longing,  lingering  look  behind  ? 

Men  have  even  been  known  to  commit  deeds  of  in- 
famy, that  their  names  might  be  perpetuated  on  the 
records  of  time.  Now  upon  what  principle  is  this 
fact  to  be  accounted  for,  if  man  is  not  destined  to 
survive  the  stroke  of  death  ?  Is  it  not  in  reality  an 
outgrowth  of  the  innate  conviction,  which  despite  all 
theories  to  the  contrary,  pervades  the  soul,  that  our 
being  is  not  to  end  with  the  dissolution  of  the  mortal 
body,  and  that  in  some  way  we  may  still  have  an 
interest  in  the  living  and  conscious  universe,  and 
may  wish  to  be  remembered  beyond  the  change  of 
death? 

"Why  otherwise,"  says  Dr.  Dick,  "should  men  be 
anxious  about  their  reputation,  and  solicitous  to  secure 
their  names  from  oblivion,  and  to  perpetuate  their  fame, 
after  they  have  descended  into  the  grave?  To  ac- 
complish such  objects,  and  to  gratify  such  desires, 
poets,  orators,  and  historians,  have  been  flattered 
and  rewarded;  to  celebrate  their  actions  monuments 
of  marble  and  of  brass  have  been  erected  to  represent 
their  persons,  and  inscriptions  engraved  in  the  solid 
rock,  to  convey  to  future  generations  a  record  of  the 
exploits  they  had  achieved.  Lofty  columns,  tri- 
umphal arches,  towering  pyramids,  magnificent  tem- 
ples, palaces,  and  mausoleums,  have  been  reared,  to 
eternise  their  fame,  and  to  make  them  live  as  it  were, 
in  the  eyes  of  their  successors,  through  all  the  future 
ages  of  time.  But,  if  the  soul  be  destined  to  de- 
struction at  the  hour  of  death,  why  should  man  be 


300  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

anxious  about  what  shall  happen,  or  what  shall  not 
happen  hereafter,  when  he  is  reduced  to  a  mere  non- 
entity, and  banished  forever  from  the  universe  of 
God?  He  can  have  no  interest  in  any  events  that 
may  befall  the  living  world  when  he  is  cancelled  from 
the  face  of  creation,  and  when  the  spark  of  in- 
telligence he  possessed  is  quenched  in  everlasting 
night."* 

III.  The  almost  universal  discontent  of  man  in 
this  world  is  a  prophecy  of  another  state  of  ex- 
istence. 

Not  only  is  it  true  of  an  Alexander  that  when  the 
civilized  world  had  been  brought  under  his  sceptre, 
he  sighed  and  wept  that  he  had  not  another  world  to 
conquer;!  but  the  same  principle  is  indigenous  in 
every  heart.  Where  do  we  find  the  person  who  is 
satisfied  and  quite  contented  ?  No  matter  what 
wealth,  or  fame,  or  knowledge,  or  power,  or  earthly 
pleasures ;  man  still  sighs  for  more.  The  patient  ox, 
that  has  satisfied  his  appetite  from  the  green  and 
fresh  pastures,  seeks  a  couch  upon  the  same  soft 
carpet,  and  as  he  lies  there  ruminating,  he  is  the 
living  embodiment  of  satisfaction  and  contentment. 
Not  a  thought  of  future  want  disturbs  his  perfect 
tranquility.  Not  a  desire  of  his  nature  remains  un- 
satisfied, or  is  still  reaching  out  for  further  gratifica- 
tion. Not  so  with  man.  From  the  king  upon  his 
throne,  to  the  beggar  upon  the  dunghill,  all  sigh  for 
something  beyond  their  present  possessions  and  enjoy- 
ments. 

*  Philosophy  of  a  Future  State,  Part  I.,  Chap,  i.,  Sec.  2. 

j-  Augustus  said  even  of  the  infamous  Herod  the  Great,  that  his  soul 
was  too  great  for  his  kingdom.  Watson's  Theological  Dictionary, 
Article  Herod. 


NATURE   OF   OUR  DESIRES.  301 

Man,  ill  at  ease, 

In  this,  not  his  own  place,  this  foreign  field, 
Where  Nature  fodders  him  with  other  food 
Than  was  ordained  his  cravings  to  suffice, 
Poor  in  abundance,  famish'd  at  a  feast, 
Sighs  on  for  something  more  when  most  enjoyed. 

Of  the  fact  here  asserted  there  will  be  no  dispute. 
What,  then,  is  its  explanation?  Has  the  Creator 
made  "the  beast  that  perishes,"  to  find  his  every  desire 
gratified,  while  man  is  created  with  immortal  longings 
that  shall  have  no  satisfactory  response  either  in  time 
or  in  eternity? 

Is  Heaven  then  kinder  to  thy  flocks  than  thee  ? 
Not  so;  thy  pasture  richer,  but  remote; 
In  part  remote  ;  for  that  remoter  part 
Man  bleats  from  instinct,  though,  perhaps,  debaueh'd 
By  sense,  his  reason  sleeps,  nor  dreams  the  cause. 
The  cause  how  obvious,  when  his  reason  wakes! 
His  grief  is  but  his  grandeur  in  disguise, 
And  discontent  is  immortality  ! 

The  leopard  or  tiger  that  paces  his  cave  hour  after 
hour,  the  very  genius  of  discontent,  shows,  by  his 
very  restlessness,  that  he  was  not  created  for  the 
menagerie,  but  for  the  far  reaching  jungle.  So  of  the 
human  soul  in  the  present  life. 

Man's  misery  declares  him  born  for  bliss ; 
His  anxious  heart  asserts  the  truth  I  sing, 
And  gives  the  sceptic  in  his  head — the  lie. 

IV.  The  nature,  influence,  and  universal  prevalence 
of  hope,  point  unmistakably  to  another  state  of  being 
beyond  the  grave. 

We  speak  not  here  of  the  hope  of  the  Christian, 
which  entereth  to  that  within  the  veil,  and  appre- 


302  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

hends  as  its  object  a  blissful  immortality;  but  of 
those  hopes  that  relate  to  future  earthly  objects,  and 
are  ever  pointing  to  brighter  scenes  and  happier 
years  to  come. 

Hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast; 
^fan  never  it,  but  always  to  be  bless'd. 

Though  the  promised  objects  are  seldom  reached, 
and,  when  attained,  never  satisfy  the  promises  and 
expectations  of  the  past,  yet  the  soul  is  ever  ready 
to  receive  each  new  promise  with  implicit  confidence, 
so  that  life  is  made  up  of  a  succession  of  eager  races 
from  goal  to  goal,  till  the  race  of  probation  is  run, 
and  the  goal  eternal  is  reached. 

Now  why  is  this  if  man  has  but  one  life?  Why 
this  stretching  out  of  her  arms  into  the  coming  future 
at  all,  if  the  soul  expires  at  death?  Or,  if  she  be 
constituted  thus  to  gaze  upon  ideal  bliss  in  years 
whose  arrival  she  may  never  greet,  why  has  not  her 
Maker  provided"  that  at  least  in  all  such  cases,  the 
reality  of  what  is  enjoyed  shall  fully  equal  the  brightest 
visions  of  hope? 

But  not  so.  We  still  hope  and  sigh  for  coming 
happiness,  and  are  incapable  of  throwing  off  faith  in 
the  enchanting  future,  or  becoming  wise  by  our  re- 
peated disappointments.  How  strange  if  there  is  no 
future  for  man  beyond  the  grave ! 

The  darkest  of  enigmas  human  hope  ; 
Of  all  the  darkest,  if  at  death  we  die. 

Upon  that  dark  hypothesis  nature,  reason,  mental 
philosophy,  all  fail  to  furnish  us  with  a  key  to  the 
strange  anomaly.  But  grant  a  Future  Life  and 'all 


NATURE    OF    OUR    DESIRES?.  303 

is  clear.  The  race  we  run  under  the  stimulus  of 
this  -wonderful  power,  is  but  a  phase  of  a  celestial 
attraction  ordained  of  Heaven  to  draw  us  to  the  skies. 
The  momentum  generated  under  its  impulses,  bearing 
us  onward  through  life,  from  stage  to  stage,  was  de- 
signed not  so  much  to  speed  each  minor  and  earthly 
race,  as  to  bear  the  soul  onward  toward  the  heavenly 
goal,  and  finally  across  the  river  of  death  to  her 
native  country  above.  And  the  successive  disap- 
pointments of  this  life,  that  are  so  soon  and  so  easily 
retrieved  by  a  new  promise  and  hope  cast  into  the 
distant  future,  are  obviously  intended  to  teach  us 
that  our  rest  and  happiness  are  not  to  be  found  below 
— a  lesson  appropriate  only  to  beings  destined  to  im- 
mortality. 

Thus,  while  on  the  one  hand  the  soul  is  lured  on 
by  hope  to  her  endless  abode,  she  is  weaned  from 
earth  by  repeated  disappointments,  and  taught  to 
look  for  realization  and  satisfaction,  not  in  this 
world,  but  rather  in  that  beyond  the  tomb.  Oh  how 
salutary  these  divine  lessons !  Well  may  an  immortal 
being,  after  such  an  experience  here  for  a  time, 
and  when  the  light  of  a  better  world  has  dawned 
upon  his  delighted  vision,  lift  his  soul  to  heaven  and 
sing, 

Let  me  go,  why  should  I  tarry  ? 

What  has  earth  to  bind  me  here  ? 
What,  but  cares,  and  toils,  and  sorrows  ? 

What,  but  death,  and  pain,  and  fear  ? 
Let  me  go,  for  hopes  most  cherished, 

Blasted  round  me  often  lie, 
Oh  !  I've  gathered  brightest  flowers, 

But  to  see  them  fade  and  die. 

Thus  hope  tells  us  of  another  life,   not  only  by 


304  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

the  inspiration  and  solace  which  it  draws  from 
the  mysterious,  enchanting  future,  but  also  by 
the  successive  demise  or  failure  of  its  brightest 
earthly  creations.  A  wise  and  beneficent  Creator 
could  never  tantalize  us  with  the  hope  of  future 
being,  had  we  not  been  predestinated  to  immor- 
tality. 

Shall  I  be  left  forgotten  in  the  dust, 

When  Fate,  relenting,  lets  the  flower  revive  ? 
Shall  Nature's  voice,  to  man  alone  unjust, 

Bid  him,  though  doomed  to  perish,  hope  to  live? 
Is  it  for  this  fair  Virtue  oft  must  strive 

With  disappointment,  penury,  and  pain  ? 
No !    Heaven's  immortal  springs  shall  yet  arrive, 

And  man's  majestic  beauty  bloom  again, 

Bright  through  th'  eternal  year  of  Love's  triumphant  reign. 

V.  The  desire  of  immortality  itself,  in  the  soul  of 
man,  is  both  an  omen  and  a  pledge  of  another  life 
after  death. 

Look  through  all  nature  and  show  me  if  you 
can  a  single  instance  in  which  God  has  given  to 
one  of  his  sentient  creatures, — quadruped,  bird,  fish, 
reptile,  or  insect — a  desire  for  the  gratification  of 
which  he  has  made  full  provision.  Whether  it  re- 
lates to  abode,  or  appetite,  or  pastime,  or  instincts, 
the  law  is  universal — the  means  for  its  gratification 
is  the  counterpart  of  each  desire,  and  answers  to  it 
as  light  answers  to  the  eye,  or  water  to  the  fins  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  deep. 

Whenever  the  idea  is  once  lodged  in  the  human 
soul  that  there  may  be  an  immortal  life  after  death, 
it  immediately  enkindles  a  devire  to  live  forever. 
Henceforth  we  shudder  at  the  thought  of  annihi- 
lation. 


NATURE   OF   OUR  DESIRES.  305 

"  Could  you,  so  rich  in  rapture  fear  an  end, 
That  ghastly  thought  would  drink  up  all  your  joy." 

Henceforth,  though  he  may  not  be  a  Christian, 
he  desires  to  exist  forever.  Even  though  clouds 
of  doubt  and  uncertainty  may  shade  his  prospects 
of  bliss  in  the  life  to  come,  the  soul  cries  out  "let  me 
still  exist!"  Even  the  prospect  of  misery  beyond 
the  grave,  is  often  more  welcome  to  the  mind  and 
heart  of  man  than  the  thought  of  non-existence ;  and 
that  for  the  reason  that  while  future  misery  to  the 
unforgiven  is  in  harmony  as  well  with  the  nature 
of  man  as  with  the  government  of  God,  the  future 
non-existence  of  the  soul  is  opposed  to  both ;  and 
we  might  therefore  expect  to  find  every  instinct 
and  intuition  and  power  of  the  soul  arrayed  against 
it. 

And  how  is  this  desire  strengthened  by  a  virtuous 
life. 

Guilt  only  makes  annihilation  gain. 

There  is  no  one  thought  that  can  so  effectually 
chill  and  petrify  the  devout  heart,  as  that  of  non- 
existence  after  death.  If,  then,  the  alliances  of 
virtue  are  with  truth,  and  those  of  sin  are  with  error, 
the  doctrine  of  immortality  must  be  true,  and  that  of 
annihilation  false. 

According,  then,  to  all  the  analogies  of  the  natural 
world,  the  existence  of  a  strong  desire  in  the  soul 
herself  to  live  on  forever,  is  a  proof  and  pledge  that 
her  Creator  formed  her  for  such  destiny,  and  has 
provided  infallibly  against  all  failure  and  disappoint- 
ment. 
20 


306  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

It  must  be  BO  ;  Plato,  thou  reasonest  well  j 
Else  whence  this  pleasing  hope,  this  fond  desire, 

This  longing  after  immortality  ? 
Or  whence  this  secret  dread  and  inward  horror, 
Of  falling  into  naught  ?     Why  shrinks  the  soul 
Back  on  herself,  and  startles  at  destruction  ? 
'Tie  the  divinity  that  stirs  within  us  ; 
'Tis  Heaven  itself  that  points  out  an  hereafter, 
And  intimates  eternity  to  man. 


CONSCIENCE    ANI>    REMORSE.  307 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE    MORAL   NATURE    OF    MAN,  CONSCIENCE,  REMORSE. 

IN  considering  the  powers  of  the  soul  thus  far,  we 
have  dwelt  mainly  upon  her  intellectual  capabilities. 
Let  us  turn  now  for  a  moment  to  the  contemplation 
of  her  moral  powers,  and  see  if  they  do  not  with  equal 
clearness  indicate  another  state  of  existence  after 
death. 

I.  That  mysterious  principle  or  faculty  of  the  soul 
called  conscience,  implies  another  life  in  which  the  soul 
may  be  held  accountable  for  her  doings  in  the  present 
world. 

Conscience  has  been  defined  as  "the  faculty,  power, 
or  principle  within  us,  which  decides  on  the  lawful- 
ness or  unlawfulness  of  our  own  actions  and  affections, 
and  instantly  approves  or  condemns  them."*  Others 
call  it  the  moral  sense,  merely.  It  seems  to  include 
a  perception  of  the  agreement  or  disagreement  of  our 
conduct  and  affections  with  some  acknowledged  stand- 
ard of  right  and  wrong,  and  a  capability  of  feeling 
unhappy  under  the  perception  of  our  guilt. 

One  of  the  poets  has  said, 

Conscience  is  the  mirror  of  our  souls, 
Which  represents  the  errors  of  our  lives, 
In  their  full  shape. 

*  Webster. 


308  THE   IMMOKTALITY   OP   THE   SOUL. 

Another  has  described  it  as, 

The  worm  that  never  dies  !  the  "  thorn  within" 

That  pricks  and  pains  !      The  whip  and  scourge  of  sin  ! 

The  voice  of  God  in  man  !  which  without  rest, 

Does  softly  cry  within  a  troubled  breast. 

II.  Of  the  power  of  conscience  alone  to  make  its 
guilty  possessor  wretched,  history  furnishes  a  great 
variety  of  examples. 

"  While  Belshazzar  was  carousing  at  an  impious 
banquet  with  his  wives  and  concubines  and  a  thousand 
of  his  nobles,  the  appearance  of  the  fingers  of  a  man's 
hand,  and  of  the  writing  on  an  opposite  wall,  threw 
him  into  such  consternation,  that  his  thoughts  terri- 
fied him,  the  girdles  of  his  loins  were  loosed,  and  his 
knees  smote  one  against  another.  His  terror,  in  such 
circumstances,  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  proceeded 
from  a  fear  of  man  ;  for  he  was  surrounded  by  his 
guards  and  his  princes,  and  all  the  delights  of  music, 
and  of  a  splendid  entertainment.  Nor  did  it  arise 
from  the  sentence  of  condemnation  written  on  the 
wall ;  for  he  was  then  ignorant  both  of  the  writing 
and  of  its  meaning.  But  he  was  conscious  of  the 
wickedness  of  which  he  had  been  guilty,  and  of  the 
sacrilegious  impiety  in  which  he  was  then  indulging, 
and,  therefore,  the  extraordinary  appearance  on  the 
wall,  was  considered  as  an  awful  foreboding  of  pun- 
ishment from  that  Almighty  and  invisible  Being 
whom  he  had  offended. 

Tiberius,  one  of  the  Roman  emperors,  was  a  gloomy, 
treacherous,  and  cruel  tyrant.  The  lives  of  his  peo- 
ple became  the  sport  of  his  savage  disposition.  Barely 
to  take  them  away  was  not  sufficient,  if  their  death 
was  not  tormenting  and  atrocious.  He  ordered,  on 


CONSCIENCE   AND   REMORSE.  309 

one  occasion,  a  general  massacre  of  all  who  were  de- 
tained in  prison,  on  account  of  the  conspiracy  of  Se- 
janus  his  minister,  and  heaps  of  carcases  were  piled 
up  in  the  public  places.  His  private  vices  and  de- 
baucheries were  also  incessant,  and  revolting  to  every 
principle  of  decency  and  virtue.  Yet  this  tyrant, 
while  acting  in  the  plenitude  of  his  power,  and 
imagining  himself  beyond  the  control  of  every  law, 
had  his  mind  tortured  with  dreadful  apprehensions. 
We  are  informed  by  Tacitus,  that  in  a  letter  to  the 
Senate,  he  opened  the  inward  wounds  of  his  breast, 
with  such  words  of  despair  as  might  have  moved  pity 
in  those  who  were  under  the  continual  fear  of  his  ty- 
ranny.* Neither  the  splendour  of  his  situation  as  an 
emperor,  nor  the  solitary  retreats  to  which  he  retired, 
could  shield  him  from  the  accusations  of  his  conscience, 
but  he  himself  was  forced  to  confess  the  mental 
agonies  he  endured  as  a  punishment  for  his  crimes. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes  was  another  tyrant  remark- 
able for  his  cruelty  and  impiety.  He  laid  siege  to 
the  city  of  Jerusalem,  exercised  the  most  horrid 
cruelties  upon  its  inhabitants,  slaughtered  forty  thou- 
sand of  them  in  three  days,  and  polluted,  in  the  most 
impious  manner,  the  temple,  and  the  worship  of  the 
God  of  Israel.  Some  time  afterwards,  when  he  was 
breathing  out  curses  against  the  Jews  for  having  re- 
stored their  ancient  worship,  and  threatening  to  de- 
stroy the  whole  nation,  and  to  make  Jerusalem  the 
common  place  of  sepulture  to  all  the  Jews,  he  was 
seized  with  a  grievous  torment  in  his  inward  parts, 
and  excessive  pangs  of  the  colic,  accompanied  with 

*  Tiberium  non  forturia,  non  solitudines   protegebant,  quin  tormenta 
pectoris  siiasque  poenas  ipse  fateretur,  Ac. —  7W /''«*. 


310  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

such  terrors  as  no  remedies  could  assuage.  "  Worms 
crawled  from  every  part  of  him ;  his  flesh  fell  away 
piece-meal,  and  the  stench  was  so  great  that  it  became 
intolerable  to  the  whole  army ;  and  he  thus  finished 
an  impious  life,  by  a  miserable  death."*  During  this 
disorder,  says  Polybius,  he  was  troubled  with  a  per- 
petual delirium,  imagining  that  spectres  stood  con- 
tinually before  him,  reproaching  him  with  his  crimes. 

Similar  relations  are  given  by  historians,  of  Herod 
who  slaughtered  the  infants  at  Bethlehem,  of  Galerius 
Maximianus  the  author  of  the  tenth  persecution 
against  the  Christians,  of  the  infamous  Philip  II.  of 
Spain,  and  of  many  others  whose  names  stand  con- 
spicuous on  the  rolls  of  impiety  and  crime. 

It  is  related  of  Charles  IX.  of  France,  who  ordered 
the  horrible  Bartholomew  massacre,  and  assisted  in 
this  bloody  tragedy,  that,  ever  after,  he  had  a  fierce- 
ness in  his  looks,  and  a  colour  in  his  cheeks,  which  he 
never  had  before ; — that  he  slept  little  and  never 
sound;  and  waked  frequently  in  great  agonies,  re- 
quiring soft  music  to  compose  him  to  rest ;  and  at 
length  died  of  a  lingering  disorder,  after  having  un- 
dergone the  most  exquisite  torments  both  of  body  and 
mind. 

D'Aubigne  informs  us  that  Henry  IV.  frequently 
told,  among  his  most  intimate  friends,  that  eight  days 
after  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  he  saw  a  vast 
number  of  ravens  perch  and  croak  on  the  pavilion  of 
the  Louvre ;  that  the  same  night  Charles  IX.  after  he 
had  been  two  hours  in  bed,  started  up, -roused  his 
grooms  of  the  chamber,  and  sent  them  out  to  listen  to 
a  great  noise  of  groans  in  the  air,  and  among  others, 

*  Rc.HmS  An.  His. 


CONSCIENCE   AND    REMORSE.  311 

some  furious  and  threatening  voices,  the  whole  re- 
sembling what  was  heard  on  the  night  of  the  massa- 
cre ;  that  all  these  various  cries  were  so  striking,  so 
remarkable,  and  so  articulate,  that  Charles,  believing 
that  the  enemies  of  the  Montmorencies  and  of  their 
partisans  had  surprised  and  attacked  them,  sent  a  de- 
tachment of  his  guards  to  prevent  this  new  massacre. 
— It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add,  that  the  intelligence 
brought  from  Paris  proved  these  apprehensions  to  be 
groundless,  and  that  the  noises  heard,  must  have 
been  the  fanciful  creations  of  the  guilty  conscience  of 
the  king,  countenanced  by  the  vivid  remembrance  of 
those  around  him  of  the  horrors  of  St.  Bartholomew's 
day. 

King  Richard  the  III.  after  he  had  murdered  his 
innocent  royal  nephews,  was  so  tormented  in  con- 
science, as  Sir  Thomas  More  reports  from  the  gentle- 
men of  his  bed  chamber,  that  he  had  no  peace  or  quiet 
in  himself,  but  always  carried  it  as  if  some  imminent 
danger  was  near  him.  His  eyes  were  always  whirl- 
ing about  on  this  side,  and  on  that  side ;  he  wore  a 
shirt  of  mail,  and  was  always  laying  his  hand  upon 
his  dagger,  looking  as  furiously  as  if  he  was  ready  to 
strike.  He  had  no  quiet  in  his  mind  by  day,  nor 
could  take  any  rest  by  night,  but,  molested  with  ter- 
rifying dreams,  would  start  out  of  his  bed,  and  run 
like  a  distracted  man  about  the  chamber.* 

This  state  of  mind,  in  reference  to  another  case, 
is  admirably  described,  in  the  following  lines  of 
Dryden. 

"  Amidst  your  train  this  unseen  judge  will  wait, 
Examine  how  you  came  by  all  your  state ; 

*  Ctow's  Anna1.?.,  p.  460. 


312  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

Upbraid  your  impious  pomp,  and  in  your  ear 

Will  hollow,  rebel !  traitor  !  murderer  ! 

Your  ill-got  power,  wan  looks,  and  care  shall  bring, 

Known  but  by  discontent  to  be  a  king. 

Of  crowds  afraid,  yet  anxious  when  alone, 

You'll  sit  and  brood  your  sorrows  on  a  throne." 

Bessus  the  Pseonian  being  reproached  with  ill-nature 
for  pulling  down  a  nest  of  young  sparrows  and  killing 
them,  answered,  that  he  had  reason  so  to  do,  "Be- 
cause these  little  birds  never  ceased  falsely  to  accuse 
him  of  the  murder  of  his  father."  This  parricide  had 
been  till  then  concealed  and  unknown;  but  the  reveng- 
ing fury  of  conscience  caused  it  to  be  discovered  by 
himself,  who  was  justly  to  suffer  for  it. 

That  notorious  skeptic  and  semi-atheist,  Mr.  Hob- 
bes,  author  of  the  "  Leviathan,"  had  been  the  means 
of  poisoning  many  young  gentlemen  and  others  with 
his  wicked  principles,  as  the  Earl  of  Rochester  con- 
fessed, with  extreme  compunction,  on  his  death-bed. 
It  was  remarked,  by  those  who  narrowly  observed  his 
conduct,  that  "  though  in  a  humor  of  bravado  he 
would  speak  strange  and  unbecoming  things  of  God  ; 
yet  in  his  study,  in  the  dark,  and  in  his  retired 
thoughts,  he  trembled  before  him."  He  could  not 
endure  to  be  left  alone  in  an  empty  house.  He  could 
not,  even  in  his  old  age,  bear  any  discourse  of  death, 
and  seemed  to  cast  off  all  thoughts  of  it.  He  could 
not  bear  to  sleep  in  the  dark ;  and  if  his  candle  hap- 
pened to  go  out  in  the  night  he  would  awake  in  terror 
and  amazement,  a  plain  indication,  that  he  was  un- 
able to  bear  the  dismal  reflections  of  his  dark  and 
desolate  mind,  and  knew  not  how  to  extinguish,  nor 
how  to  bear  the  light  of  "  the  candle  of  the  Lord" 
within  him.  He  is  said  to  have  left  the  world,  with 


CONSCIENCE   AND   REMORSE.  313 

great  reluctance,  under  terrible   apprehensions  of  a 
dark  and  unknown  futurity. 

"Conscience,  the  torturer  of  the  soul,  unseen, 
Does  fiercely  brandish  a  sharp  scourge  within. 
Severe  decrees  may  keep  our  tongues  in  awe, 
But  to  our  thoughts  what  edict  can  give  law  ? 
Even  you  yourself  to  your  own  breast  shall  tell 
Your  crimes,  and  your  own  Conscience  be  your  Hell."* 

How  conscience  spoke  in*  the  souls  of  Joseph's 
brethren,  when  they  found  themselves  in  trouble  in 
the  land  of  Pharaoh. 

"  And  they  said  one  to  another,  We  are  verily  guilty 
concerning  our  brother,  in  that  we  saw  the  anguish  of 
his  soul,  when  he  besought  us,  and  we  would  not  hear ; 
therefore  is  this  distress  come  upon  us.  And  Reu- 
ben answered  them,  saying,  Spake  I  not  unto  you, 
saying,  Do  not  sin  against  the  child;  and  ye  would 
not  hear !  therefore,  behold,  also  his  blood  is  re- 
quired." Gen.  xlii.  21,  22. 

How  easily  Herod  could  believe  in  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  after  murdering  John  the  Baptist.  When 
he  heard  of  the  miracles  of  Christ,  he  was  sure  that 
John  had  risen  again  from  the  dead,  and  might  soon 
appear  and  hold  him  to  account  for  his  bloody  deeds. 

"And  king  Herod  heard  of  him,  (for  his  name  was 
spread  abroad,)  and  he  said,  That  John  the  Baptist 
was  risen  from  the  dead,  and  therefore  mighty  works 
do  shew  forth  themselves  in  him."  Mark  vi.  14. 

Other  instances  nearer  home,  and  of  more  recent 
date  are  equally  striking.  Take  the  following  which 
have  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  the  public  prints 
during  the  last  few  years. 

Future  State,  pp.  72-75. 


314  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

Rev.  Daniel  Lindly,  after  an  absence  of  forty 
years — more  than  half  of  the  time  passed  as  a  mis- 
sionary in  Africa — returned  to  this  country,  and 
recently  revisited  Athens,  Ohio — the  home  of  his 
childhood,  the  theatre  of  his  youthful  days.  He 
trod  again  upon  the  old  Campus,  walked  through  the 
old  college  halls,  stood  upon  the  cliff — the  rocky 
rostrum  of  college  boys.  He  examined  the  old 
paths,  and  inquired  for  the  companions  of  his  youth. 
Changes  had  passed  upon  every  scene,  and  few, 
indeed,  were  the  associates  of  early  life  he  could 
recognize  there.  But  his  name  and  presence  were 
known,  and  he  was  asked  to  preach  at  night,  and 
to  give  some  account  of  his  life  in  Africa.  At  the 
close  of  the  services,  a  very  respectable  and  aged 
gentleman  approached,  and  desired  him  to  take  a 
walk. 

They  passed  on,  and  when  they  had  reached  a 
somewhat  retired  place,  the  gentleman  turned  and 
said:  "Brother  Lindly!  if  a  man  has  ever  done  a 
wrong,  has  committed  a  sin,  don't  you  think  he  should 
confess  it?" 

"Why,  yes,"  said  Mr.  Lindly,  "if  thereby  he 
may  glorify  God ;  if  it  will  make  amends  to  the 
party  wronged,  or  do  good  to  the  party  who  sinned." 

"Well,  that  is  just  what  I  think.  I  am  just  in 
that  predicament.  I  have  long  desired  and  prayed 
for  an  opportunity  to  make  a  confession  and  amend- 
ment to  you.  *  *  When  we  were  boys  together, 
fifty  years  ago,  we  were  playing  together. 

"You  dropped  a  quarter  of  a  dollar,  I  snatched  it 
up,  and  put  it  in  my  pocket:  I  claimed  it  as  my  own 
and  kept  it. 


CONSCIENCE    AND    REMOI^K.  315 

"It  was,  perhaps,  a  little  mean,  dirty  trick,  and  it 
has  worried  and  troubled  me  ever  since." 

"Oh!  it  was  a  small  matter,  and  I  have  no  recol- 
lection of  it,"  said  Mr.  Lindly. 

"Ah,  you  may  call  it  a  small  matter,  but  it  has 
been  a  mighty  burden  for  me  to  bear. 

"  I  have  carried  it  now  for  fifty  years.  I  would 
not  carry  it  for  fifty  more  for  all  the  gold  of  California. 
And  suppose  I  had  to  carry  it  for  fifty  thousand  years, 
or  for  all  eternity!  No,  sir;  it  is  no  small  matter:  it 
has  been  growing  bigger,  and  heavier  and  heavier,  and 
I  want  to  get  rid  of  it. 

"I  have  no  doubt  you  have  forgotten  it,  but  I 
could  never  forget  it.  I  have  not,  for  the  last  fifty 
years,  heard  your  name  mentioned,  or  the  name  of 
your  father,  or  any  of  the  family,  but  that  quarter 
has  come  in  connection.  Why,  the  very  buttons  on 
your  coat — every  thing  that  is  round,  represents  a 
quarter.  Sun,  moon,  and  stars,  are  magnified  and 
illuminated  quarters.  You  need  not  call  it  a  little 
sin;  if  it  was,  it  has  grown  mightily  to  plague  me; 
and  deservedly,  too." 

With  this,  the  gentleman  took  from  his  pocket- 
book  a  five  franc  piece,  worn  bright  and  smooth,  and 
said:  "I  wish  you  to  take  this;  it  belongs  to  you; 
it  is  rightfully  yours,  and  will  be  no  burden  to  you. 
And  if  this  is  not  enough,  I  will  give  more."  Mr. 
Lindly  accepted  it,  and  the  gentleman  raised  him- 
self erect  and  drew  a  long  breath,  as  a  man  would  who 
has  thrown  off  a  heavy  load.  He  was  at  last  relieved. 

In  February  1863,  the  following  anonymous  note, 
with  its  enclosure,  was  received  at  the  Metropolitan 
Bank,  New  York. 


316  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

NEW  YORK,  Feb.  14,  1863. 

"  MR.  J.  F.  WILLIAMS  :  Enclosed  please  find 
$309, -the  property  of  the  Metropolitan  Bank." 

Soon  afterward  a  similar  event  occurred  in  another 
direction,  as  the  following,  cut  from  the  New  York 
Tribune  of  March  7,  1863,  will  show. 

"  On  Wednesday,  the  President  received,  by  Adams 
&  Go's.  Express,  a  package  of  'greenbacks,'  amount- 
ing to  $868,  which  sum  the  writer  of  an  accompany- 
ing letter  says  he  obtained  from  the  Government 
dishonestly,  and  which  he  therefore  returns.  The 
letter  is  dated  Brooklyn,  March  2,  1863,  and  signed 
i  Candida  Securo." 

On  the  second  of  February,  1864,  the  following 
also  appeared  in  the  columns  of  the  same  paper. 

"The  sum  of  $70  was  received  at  the  Treasury 
Department  to-day,  in  a  letter  dated  Boston,  which 
said  it  was  for  duty  on  an  article,  not  designed  for 
sale,  imported  some  years  ago.  The  writer  says  the 
compound  interest  and  premium  on  gold  have  been 
added  to  the  amount  originally  due." 

Such  cases  remind  us  of  the  unhappy  Judas,  who, 
after  having  betrayed  his  Lord  and  Master,  was 
smitten  with  remorse  of  conscience,  brought  back 
the  bribe  for  which  he  had  committed  the  deed  of  in- 
famy, threw  down  the  money  in  the  temple,  and 
went  out  and  put  an  end  to  his  own  life.  Matt, 
xxvii.  3—5.  Oh  how  terrible  the  power  of  con- 
science to  agonize  and  ruin  the  guilty  and  unforgiven 
soul ! 

Now  it  is  by  no  means  probable  that,  in  either 
of  the  above  recent  cases  the  parties  had  the  least 
fear  of  detection  or  exposure  in  this  world.  In 


CONSCIENCE   AND   REMORSE.  317 

this  respect  they  were  no  doubt  perfectly  safe;  and 
if  not  there  is  no  proof  that  restitution  rendered 
their  detection  any  less  probable,  or,  in  that  respect, 
relieved  them  from  any  measure  of  anxiety.  Evi- 
dently such  was  not  the  object  of  any  one  of 
these  restitutions,  but  rather  to  relieve  the  soul  of 
her  sense  of  guilt  and  remorse, — to  allay  the  fore- 
bodings of  detection  and  exposure  in  a  future  and 
eternal  state. 

III.  The  following  instances  relate  to  still  higher 
offences. 

"One  or  two  years  since,  a  citizen  of  Alabama 
was  tried  for  murder,  but  through  some  techni- 
cality was  acquitted.  He  went  forth,  however,  with 
the  brand  upon  him,  and  wherever  he  wandered, 
people  made  room  for  the  murderer  to  pass.  He  was 
slimmed  as  one  with  the  leprosy.  Some  weeks  since, 
the  man  shut  himself  in  a  room  with  no  companion 
but  a  barrel  of  whisky,  and  plunged  into  the  deepest 
intoxication,  drinking,  it  is  said,  a  quart  of  the  liquor 
at  a  draught.  In  this  condition  he  lingered  through 
two  or  three  months  in  the  most  intense  mental 
agony,  and  finally  died." 

So  gnaws  the  grief  of  conscience  evermore, 

And  in  the  heart  it  is  so  deeply  grave, 
That  they  may  never  sleep  nor  rest  therefor, 

Nor  think  one  thought  but  on  the  dread  they  have. 

Albert  W.  Hicks,  the  murderer,  who  was  exe- 
cuted at  Bedloe's  Island,  near  New  York,  July 
13,  1860,  made  the  following  statement  to  the  re- 
porters, as  published  in  the  New  York  daily  papers 
at  the  time. 

"For  years  conscience  has  slumbered;  I  have  not 


318  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

heard  her  voice  at  all.  No  deed  of  desperation  has 
seemed  to  me  too  desperate;  no  crime  has  seemed  too 
dark  or  bloody.  My  soul  seemed  dead  to  all  remorse 
or  dread,  and  fear  has  been  a  feeling  -which,  until 
now,  I  have  never  known. 

"But  in  this  lonely  cell,  away  from  all  the  ex- 
citements which  have  always  been  the  support  of 
my  restless  nature — within  these  solemn  walls,  where 
I  see  none  but  those  who  guard  me,  or  those  come  to 
look  at  me,  as  upon  some  wild  beast;  here,  where  no 
sounds  fall  upon  my  ear  but  the  footsteps  of  the 
keeper,  as  he  paces  with  measured  tread  the  long 
corridor  outside,  or  harsh,  discordant  clank  of 
heavy  doors  slamming,  or  the  grating  of  bolts 
and  the  creaking  of  hinges  —  conscience,  so  long 
dead,  has  at  last  awakened,  and  now  stings  me 
with  anguish,  and  fills  my  soul  with  dread  arid 
horror. 

"I  look  back  upon  my  way  of  life,  and  see  the 
path  marked  with  blood  and  crime,  and  in  the  still 
midnight,  if  I  sleep,  I  act  the  dreadful  scenes  anew. 
Again  I  imbue  my  hand  in  the  red  blood  of  my 
victims;  again  I  rob  the  unsuspecting  traveler,  or 
violate  the  most  sacred  sanctities  of  life,  to  satisfy 
my  greed  of  gold,  or  headstrong,  unchecked  pas- 
sions ;  and  if  I  wake,  I  seem  to  see  my  victims 
glaring  at  me  through  the  gloom  of  my  cell,  or 
hear  them  shriek  aloud  for  vengeance  on  my  guilty 
head. 

"The  past  is  one  great  horror!  The  future  one 
dread  fear.  A  heavy,  insupportable  weight  is  on  my 
heart,  and  I  feel  as  if,  did  I  not  reveal  its  fearful 
secrets,  I  should  go  mad. 


CONSCIENCE    AM>    KEMUKSE.  319 

How  awful  is  that  hour,  when  conscience  stings 

The  hoary  wretch,  who  on  his  death-bed  hears, 
Deep  in  his  soul,  the  thundering  voice,  that  rings, 

In  one  dark,  damning  moment,  crimes  of  years, 

And  screaming  like  a  vulture  in  his  ears, 
Tells,  one  by  one,  his  thoughts  and  deeds  of  shame ; 

How  wild  the  fury  of  his  soul  careers  ? 
His  swart  eye  flashes  with  intensest  flame, 
And  like  the  tortures  rack  the  wrestling  of  his  frame. 

"Violence  done  to  the  conscience,  which  is  of  the 
essence  of  sin,  is  a  wrenching  of  the  soul  into  a 
moral  dislocation.  It  is  a  rupture  of  the  bands  which 
keep  the  moral  fabric  in  its  integrity,  and  from  the 
consequent  suffering  there  is  no  exemption.  What 
matters  the  question  of  outward  positive  inflictions, 
when  we  have  wrapped  up  within  us  the  elements 
of  unknown  sorrows,  from  which  we  can  no  more 
escape  than  from  our  own  consciousness!"  * 

If,  then,  such  is  the  power  of  conscience  to  make 
the  guilty  wretched  in  the  present  life,  despite  our 
blunted  perceptions  and  the  hardening  influence  of 
sin,  what  will  it  be  when  every  sin  shall  stand  forth 
clear  and  distinct  upon  the  enduring  pages  of  memory, 
and  the  conscience  that  has  so  long  slumbered  or 
been  but  half  awake,  shall  be  roused  to  the  fullest  ap- 
prehension of  its  guilt,  and  to  the  keenest  possible 
sense  of  its  endless  desert! 

IV.  We  see  that  even  here,  notwithstanding  all 
that  may  be  done  to  deaden  the  sensibilities,  and 
hush  the  voice  of  conscience  in  the  soul  of  man,  it  has 
power  to  fill  the  mind  with  indescribable  horrors,  and 
to  sting  the  immortal  spirit  with  an  agony  that  no 
language  can  depict. 

"Now,  how  are  we  to  account  for  such  terrors  of 

*  Bush  on  the  Resurrection,  p.  396. 


320  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

conscience,  and  awful  forebodings  of  futurity,  if  there 
be  no  existence  beyond  the  grave?  especially  when 
we  consider,  that  many  of  those  who  have  been  thus 
tormented  have  occupied  stations  of  rank  and  power, 
which  raised  them  above  the  fear  of  punishment  from 
man?  If  they  got  their  schemes  accomplished,  their 
passions  gratified,  and  their  persons  and  possessions 
secured  from  temporal  danger,  why  did  they  feel 
compunction  or  alarm  in  the  prospect  of  futurity?  for 
every  mental  disquietude  of  this  description  implies  a 
dread  of  something  future.  They  had  no  great  reason 
to  be  afraid  even  of  the  Almighty  himself,  if  his  ven- 
geance do  not  extend  beyond  the  present  world.  They 
beheld  the  physical  and  moral  world  moving  onward 
according  to  certain  fixed  and  immutable  laws.  They 
beheld  no  miracles  of  vengeance — no  Almighty  arm 
visibly  hurling  the  thunderbolts  of  heaven  against  the 
workers  of  iniquity.  They  saw  that  one  event  hap- 
pened to  all,  to  the  righteous  as  well  as  to  the  wicked, 
and  that  death  was  an  evil  to  which  they  behooved 
sooner  or  later  to  submit.  They  encountered  hostile 
armies  with  fortitude,  and  beheld  all  the  dread  appa- 
ratus of  war  without  dismay.  Yet,  in  their  secret  re- 
tirements, in  their  fortified  retreats,  where  no  eye 
but  the  eye  of  God  was  upon  them,  and  when  no 
hostile  incursion  was  apprehended,  they  trembled  at 
a  shadow,  and  felt  a  thousand  disquietudes  from  the 
reproaches  of  an  inward  monitor  which  they  could 
not  escape.  These  things  appear  altogether  inexplica- 
ble if  there  be  no  retribution  beyond  the  grave. 

"  We  are,  therefore,  irresistibly  led  to  the  conclu- 
sion, that  the  voice  of  conscience,  in  such  cases,  is  the 
voice  of  God  declaring  his  abhorrence  of  wicked  deeds 


AND    REMORSE.  321 

and  the  punishment  which  they  deserve,  and  that  his 
providence  presides  over  the  actions  of  moral  agents, 
and  gives  intimations  of  the  future  destiny  of  those 
haughty  spirits  who  obstinately  persist  in  their  tres- 
passes. And,  consequently,  as  the  peace  and  serenity 
of  virtuous  minds  are  preludes  of  nobler  enjoyments 
in  a  future  life,  so  those  terrors  which  now  assail  the 
wicked  may  be  considered  as  the  beginnings  of  that 
misery  and  anguish  which  will  be  consummated  in  the 
world  to  come,  in  the  case  of  those  who  add  final  im- 
penitence to  all  their  other  crimes."* 

*  Future  State,  p.  76. 
21 


322  THE    IMMORTALITY    uF    THE    SOUL. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

OUR  CONTINUED    LOVE  FOR   THE  DEAD  A    PROOF  OF  IM- 
MORTALITY. 

IF  it  be  admitted  that  there  is  an  all-wise  and 
infinite  Creator,  it  must  also  be  admitted  that  except 
so  far  as  we  have  induced  discord  and  conflict  by 
sin,  all  our  powers  and  susceptibilities  are  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  circumstances  of  our  present  being, 
and  with  the  fact  or  otherwise  of  a  future  state  of 
existence. 

Fishes,  whose  home  is  in  subterranean  rivers,  are 
found  without  eyes.  As  they  are  never  wanted 
where  no  light  ever  comes,  though  their  ancestors 
once  possessed  them,  after  a  few  generations  nature 
causes  them  to  be  closed  forever.  If  the  bird  were 
never  to  fly,  no  half- formed  wings  would  be  seen, 
while  yet  the  birdlet  is  confined  to  the  narrow  limits 
of  its  shell. 

And  so  of  the  soul  of  man:  if  she  had  not  been 
predestinated  by  her  Creator  for  another  and  an 
endless  state,  she  would  never  have  been  invested 
with  those  wonderful  powers  and  capabilities  with 
which  we  find  her  so  richly  endowed,  and  which  so 
••minently  befit  and  adorn  her  as  an  accountable  and 
immortal  intelligence. 


LOVE    FOR    THE    DLAD. 

Look  for  example  at  the  fact  named  at  the  head 
of  this  chapter — our  continued  remembrance  of  and 
love  for  the  dead  after  they  have  passed  from  our 
earthly  view  forever,  and  their  bodies  have  crumbled 
back  to  dust. 

I.  This  passion  or  emotion  of  the  soul  is  so  com- 
mon to  all  ages  and  lands  that  it  might  almost  be 
called  a  universal  instinct  of  the  human  heart.  Why 
was  it  that  the  aborigines  of  our  own  country  were 
wont  to  send  messengers  of  love  by  the  wild  forest 
birds,  to  their  kindred  in  the  spirit  land  ?  Why  do 
some  of  the  heathen  kneel  annually  at  the  graves 
of  their  dead,  and  whisper  "I  love  you  still?"  With 
what  unearthly  tenderness  do  we  still  cling  to  those 
whom  we  once  knew  and  loved  in  this  world,  but 
who  have  passed  from  our  society  to  return  no 
more.  The  bereft  mother  still  loves  her  darling 
babe,  though  its  lifeless  form  reposes  in  the  tomb, 
and  she  well  knows  it  is  but  a  mass  of  corrup- 
tion. Nor  is  this  all.  If  she  scrutinize  that  tender 
tie  that  connects  her  aching  heart  with  the  departed 
object  of  her  love,  she  is  conscious  that  it  is  not 
the  lifeless  clod  to  which  she  so  fondly  clings,  but 
that  which  thought,  and  knew,  and  smiled  upon  her 
through  the  little  form  it  cast  off  at  death — the  spirit 
babe  that-  has  soared  away  to  heaven !  Hence  she 
sings  even  amid  her  tears, 

"  The  great  Jehovah  from  above, 

An  angel  bright  did  send, 
And  took  my  little  harmless  dove, 
To  joys  that  never  end." 

And  still,  though  assured  of  its  unalloyed  happiness 
in  another  life,  she  can  never  forget  it  or  cease  to  love 


324  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

it.  From  time  to  time  I  see  her,  looking  over  its 
playthings  or  garments  long  years  after  the  body  is 
dissolved  in  the  tomb,  and  weeping  with  an  affec- 
tion as  fresh  and  ardent  as  on  the  day  when  she 
imprinted  the  farewell  kiss  upon  its  cold  and  marble 
brow. 

How  touchingly  is  this  continued  love  for  the  dead 
described  in  the  following  beautiful  lines  by  Miss 
Priest : — 


"  Over  the  river  they  beckon  to  me, 

Loved  ones  who've  crossed  to  the  further  side ; 
The  gleam  of  their  snowy  robes  I  see, 

But  their  voices  are  lost  in  the  rushing  tide. 
There's  one  with  ringlets  of  sunny  gold, 

And  eyes  the  reflection  of  heaven's  own  blue; 
He  crossed  in  the  twilight  gray  and  cold, 

And  the  pale  mist  hid  him  from  mortal  view  ; 
We  saw  not  the  angels  that  met  him  there, 

The  gates  of  the  city  we  could  not  see — 
Over  the  river,  over  the  river, 

My  brother  stands  waiting  to  welcome  me. 

"  Over  the  river  the  boatman  pale, 

Carried  another,  the  household  pet ; 
Her  brown  curls  wave  in  the  gentle  gale, 

Darling  Minnie !  I  see  her  yet. 
She  crossed  on  her  bosom  her  dimple  hands, 

And  fearlessly  entered  the  phantom  bark  ; 
We  felt  it  glide  from  the  silver  sands, 

And  all  our  sunshine  grew  strangely  dark^L. 
We  know  she  is  safe  on  the  further  side, 

Where  all  the  ransomed  and  angels  be — 
Over  the  river,  the  mystic  river, 

My  childhood's  idol  ig  waiting  for  me. 

"  For  none  return  from  those  quiet  shores, 

Who  cross  with  the  boatman  cold  and  pale, 
We  hear  the  dip  of  their  golden  oars, 

And  catch  a  glimpse  of  their  snowy  sail ; 


LOVE    FOR    THE    DEAD.  325 

And  lo,  they  have  pas«ed  from  our  yearning  hearts, 

They  cross  the  stream  and  are  lost  for  aye. 
We  may  not  sunder  the  vail  apart, 

That  hides  from  our  vision  the  gates  of  day. 
We  only  know  that  their  barks  no  more, 

M:iy  sail  with  us  o'er  life's  stormy  sea; 
Yet  somewhere,  I  know,  on  the  unseen  shore, 

They  watch,  and  beckon,  and  wait  for  me. 

"  And  I  sit  and  think  where  the  sunset's  gold, 

Is  flushing  river,  and  hill,  and  shore, 
I  shall  one  day  stand  hy  the  waters  cold, 

And  list  for  the  sound  of  the  boatman's  oar ; 
I  shall  watch  for  a  gleam  of  the  flapping  sail, 

I  shall  hear  the  boat  as  it  gains  the  strand, 
I  shall  pass  from  sight  with  the  boatman  pale, 

To  the  better  shore  of  the  spirit  land  : 
I  shall  know  the  loved  that  have  gone  before, 

And  joyfully  sweet  will  the  meeting  be, 
When  over  the  river,  the  peaceful  river, 

The  angel  of  death  shall  carry  me." 

A  poor  helpless  girl,  a  cripple,  who  was  doomed 
from  childhood  to  pain  and  deformity,  but  who,  never- 
theless, felt  all  the  warm  impulses  of  an  immortal 
nature,  thus  wrote  and  sung  of  "  the  loved  and  lost" 
who  had  gone  before  : 

"  Our  buried  friends  can  we  forget, 

Although  they've  passed  death's  gloomy  river  ? 
They  live  within  our  memory  yet, 

And  in  our  love  must  live  for  ever. 
And,  though  they've  gone  a  while  before, 

To  join  the  ransomed  hosts  in  heaven, 
Our  hearts  will  love  them  more  and  more, 

Till  earthly  chains  at  last  be  riven. 

"  I  heard  them  bid  the  world  adieu  : 

I  saw  them  on  the  rolling  billow  : 
Their  far-off  home  appeared  in  view, 
While  yet  they  pressed  a  dying  pillow. 


326  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

I  heard  the  parting  pilgrim  tell, 

While  passing  Jordan's  lonely  river, — 

Adieu  to  earth, — now  all  is  well  — 
Now  all  is  well  with  me  forever. 

"  Oh  !  how  I  long  to  join  their  wing, 

And  range  their  fields  of  blooming  flowers : 
Come,  holy  watchers,  come  and  bring 

A  mourner  to  your  blissful  bowers. 
I'd  speed  with  rapture  on  iny  way, 

Nor  would  I  pause  at  Jordan's  river : 
With  songs  I'd  enter  endless  day, 

And  live  with  my  loved  friends  forever." 

II.  Of  the  same  general  significance  is  the  interest 
we  all  feel  in  whatever  relates  to  the  departed  dead, 
and  especially  in  the  fond  inquiry,    "  shall  we  know 
our  friends  beyond  the  grave?"     We  have  no  space 
for  the  consideration  of  this  question  here,  and  shall 
return  to  it  in  a  future  chapter  ;  but  as  a  fact  needing 
little  proof  or  illustration,  we  barely  point  to  it  now 
as  an  omen  of  our  coming  immortality.  It  is  but  a  phase 
of  the  same  love  that  adorns  the  cold  pale  corpse  with 
flowers,  and  builds  the  monument,  sculptures  the  marble 
with  words  of  tenderest  affection,  and  for  long  years 
afterward  bedews  the  grave  with  tears. 

III.  Now  we  argue  that  the  very  existence  of  this 
continued  love  for  the  dead  is  in  itself  a  proof  of  their 
continued  being,  and  by  parity  of  reasoning,  of  the 
immortality  of  all  human  spirits.     If  all  souls  perished 
at  death,  the  infinite  and  all-merciful   Creator  would 
have  so  constituted  us  that  the  moment  a  parent  or 
child  or  wife  or  husband  was  dead,  we  should  cease  to 
love  them  forever. 

Take  an  illustration  from  the  history   of  a  recent 
scientific  discovery. 

For  many  years  previous  to  1845  it  had  been  known 


LOVE    FOR   THE    DEAD.  o2 

that  the  planet  Uranus  was  subject  to  certain  pertur- 
bations in  its  orbit  ;  which  could  not  be  accounted  for 
by  the  attraction  of  the  sun,  and  of  the  other  plane- 
tary bodie8.*  From  the  nature  and  amount  of  these 
perturbations,  Le  Verrier,  a  French  mathematician, 
demonstrates  the  existence  of  an  undiscovered  planet, 
and  so  completely  did  he  determine  its  place  in  the 
distant  heavens,  that  when  Dr.  Galle  of  the  Berlin 
Observatory  pointed  his  telescope  to  the  place  desig- 
nated by  Le  Verrier,  he  not  only  found  the  new  planet, 
but  found  it  within  one  degree  of  its  computed  loca- 
tion ! 

Here,  then,  we  have  not  only  an  unknown  planet 
casting  the  spell  of  its  attraction  upon  those  that  are 
known  and  seen,  and  producing  thereby  its  visible  ef- 
fects, but  to  the  eye  of  reason  these  mysterious  effects 
become  the  infallible  proofs  of  the  existence  and  di- 
rection of  another  world,  hitherto  undiscovered  and 
unknown. f  So  with  the  human  soul  and  its  con- 
tinued love  for  the  dead.  We  follow  them  to  the 
shores  of  the  final  river,  and  they  recede  from  our 

*  It  should  be  remembered,  that  in  accordance  with  the  Newtonian 
law  of  gravitation,  every  body  in  the  Solar  System  attracts  every 
other ;  that  the  attraction  of  each  body  is  proportioned  to  its  quantity 
of  matter ;  and  that  in  the  same  body  the  power  of  attraction  varies 
inversely  as  the  square  of  the  distance.  In  order,  therefore,  to  compute 
the  exact  place  of  a  planet  in  its  orbit  about  the  sun,  it  is  necessary  not 
merely  to  regard  the  attraction  of  the  central  body,  but  also  to  allow 
for  the  influence  of  all  the  other  bodies  of  the  Solar  system.  To  com- 
pute the  exact  orbit  which  a  planet  will  describe,  subject  to  the  attrac- 
tions of  all  the  members  of  the  solar  system,  is  consequently  one  of  the 
grandest  problems  of  astronomy. 

f  For  a  full  and  accurate  account  of  this  wonderful  discover}',  see 
"  Recent  Progress  of  Astronomy,"  by  Prof.  Loomis,  published  by  the 
Harpers. 


328  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

view.  No  more  do  we  listen  to  the  music  of  their 
friendly  voices,  or  behold  the  light  of  their  smiling 
countenances.  In  all  these  respects  they  are  hidden 
from  our  view  by  the  vail  of  death,  as  from  creation's 
memory  Neptune  had  lain  hidden  from  all  mortal 
vision  in  the  depths  of  immensity. 

The  misty  vail 
Of  mortality  blinds  the  eye, 
That  we  see  not  the  hovering  angel  bands, 
On  the  shores  of  eternity. 

But  though  distant  and  invisible  we  feel  the  spell 
of  their  celestial  attraction.  Yielding  thereto  our 
hearts  are  the  subjects  of  tender  perturbations,  and 
sighs  and  tears  are  the  witnesses  of  the  suscepti- 
bility of  our  own  natures  to  its  distant  and  silent 
power. 

Now  in  the  name  of  reason  we  ask,  has  the  Creator 
so  constituted  the  human  soul  that,  despite  itself,  it 
remembers  and  still  loves  objects  that-  have  long 
since  ceased  to  exist  ?  Has  this  palpable  effect  no 
really  exciting  cause  ?  Comes  this  mysterious  pow- 
erful attraction  that  draws  us  so  sweetly  towards 
the  unseen  country,  from  the  empty  void  of  nonen- 
tity ?  Is  not  the  supposition  an  impeachment  of  the 
Creator  of  the  heart  of  man,  a  charge  against  him 
of  trifling  with  our  most  tender  and  most  holy  affec- 
tions ? 

While,  then,  we  follow  our  friends  to  the  river  of 
death,  and  after  they  have  crossed  wander  sadly  up 
and  down  its  banks,  still  bound  to  them  by  the  cords 
of  a  deathless  love,  every  pang  we  feel  when  we  real- 
ize that  they  are  gone — every  emotion  of  tenderness 


LOVE    FOR   THE    DEAD.  329 

that  thrills  our  hearts  with  its  warm  immortal  glow — 
every  tear  that  we  shed,  or  sigh  that  we  heave — each 
and  all  are  but  so  many  proofs  in  the  soul  herself 
that  the  dead,  whose  memory  we  so  fondly  cherished, 
still  live  immortal  beyond  the  grave. 


330  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

NATURAL    EMBLEMS    OF    THE    SOUL'S    DEPARTURE    AT 
DEATH. 

AMONG  the  rational  evidences  of  a  future  state  of 
existence,  the  natural  world  furnishes  various  phe- 
nomena strikingly  illustrative  of  the  departure  of  the 
soul  from  the  body  in  the  hour  of  death.  To  a  few 
of  these  we  shall  now  call  attention. 

I.  The  bursting  of  the  shell  in  which  the  birdlet  is 
confined,  when  the  period  of  incubation  is  over,  may 
not  inaptly  be  said  to  represent  and  illustrate  the 
emancipation  of  the  soul  when  our  mortal  existence 
shall  terminate. 

Before  this  transition,  though  it  had  feet  and  eyes 
and  mouth  and  wings,  they  could  serve  no  appreci- 
able purpose,  unless  it  should  be  to  indicate  a  coming 
existence  under  new  and  more  favorable  auspices. 
Like  the  latent  or  but  half  developed  powers  of  the 
soul  in  the  present  world,  they  are  a  silent  yet  cogent 
prophecy  of  a  more  glorious  state  of  being  to  come. 

But  at  length  the  shell  bursts  and  the  prisoner  is 
free  !  One  by  one  the  powers  of  taste  and  voice  and 
eye  and  wing  are  disclosed,  till  the  once  hapless 
prisoner,  is  seen  shooting  through  air  and  light,  over 
forest  and  hill  and  plain. 


NATURAL    EMBLEMS    OF    IMMORTALITY.          331 

Where  nothing  earthly  bounds  his  sight, 
Xor  shadow  dims  his  way.* 

So  of  the  great  transition  in  the  hour  of  death.  It 
is  but  the  breaking  of  the  earthen  vessel,  that  the  soul 
may  stretch  her  glad  wings  and  soar  beyond  the 
stars. 

How  fitly,  then,  may  the  Christian  be  represented 
as  saying  to  his  friend  who  is  weeping  over  his  life- 
less body, 

The  soul  that  thou  hast  loved, 

Will  not  be  there, 
It  will  have  plumed  its  wings, 

And  soared  afar. 
Then  weep  not  o'er  my  change, 

When  I  am  free. 
When  I've  left  my  cell  and  gained, 

My  liberty. 

II.  The  pine  tree,  fresh  and  green  amid  the  snows 

*  The  following  by  Rev.  Dr.  Todd,  though  in  language  adapted  to 
children,  is  a  clear  and  attractive  presentation  of  the  same  general 
idea: 

"  A  little  Robin  lay  curled  up,  unhatched  in  his  small  blue  shell. 
Dim,  very  dim  rays  of  light  came  through  the  small  pores  of  the  shell. 
He  thus  talked  with  himself:  "Well,  I'm  a  very,  very  small  fellow,  and 
I  am  in  a  narrow  world.  I  seem  to  have  parts  and  things  about  me  which 
I  cannot  use.  There  is  something  that  seems  to  be  a  mouth,  but  I  have 
no  food  for  it  here ;  something  that  seems  to  be  feet,  but  I  cannot  walk 
with  them ;  something  coiled  up  that  seems  like  wings,  but  what  can  I  do 
with  them  ?  This  is  a  narrow  place,  and  I  can't  use  these  things,  and 
I  can't  understand  why  I  have  them.  I  am  told,  indeed,  of  another 
state,  where  the  light  is  brighter  and  stronger,  and  where  there  is  room, 
and  where  I  can  use  all  these  things  ;  but  Oh  dear  !  I  can't  now  under- 
stand these  sayings !"  But  in  a  few  days  his  shell  fell  off,  and  his  eyes 
opened,  and  his  mouth  received  food,  and  feathers  covered  him.  and 
his  wings  were  complete,  and  his  feet  perfect,  and  he  could  rim,  and 
fly,  and  sing,  as  he  rose  up  over  houses,  and  passed  over  rivers  and 
high  trees.  He  could  now  see  and  enjoy  this  new,  this  higher,  this 
better  state.  He  was  made  for  this  and  not  for  the  egg  state.  He  now 
saw  why  he  had  tho  things  called  wings,  legs,  and  the  like. 


332  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

of  winter,  has  been  used  as  an  emblem  of  the  life  of 
man  beyond  death,  as  in  the  following  beautiful  lines 
by  E.  C.  Riggs.  The  author,  a  young  man  of  delicate 
health,  had,  within  a  few  years,  followed  a  noble  brother 
and  two  affectionate  sisters  to  that  sacred  retreat  of 
which  he  speaks. 

When  life's  brief,  changing  scenes  are  o'er, 
And  I  on  earth  shall  dwell  no  more, 
Then  lay  this  mouldering  form  away 
Beside  the  dust,  the  hallowed  clay 
Of  friends  and  kindred  loved  so  well, 
Who  sleep  within  the  quiet  dell, 
Where  rippling  waters,  dancing  by, 
Sing  soft  and  sweet  their  lullaby. 

When  death  unbars  the  door  for  me, 
And  lets  the  imprisoned  spirit  free 
To  roam  through  verdant  fields  above, 
Where  all  is  peace  and  joy  and  love — 
Then  lay  my  body  'neath  the  sod, 
By  mourners'  feet  so  often  trod, 
Where  brother's,  sisters'  dust  is  laid, 
Beneath  the  pine-tree's  soothing  shade. 

There  lay  the  broken  casket  down ; 

'Twill  useless  be  with  jewels  gone. 

Let  that  sweet  pine  an  emblem  be 

Of  Life  and  Immortality ; 

And  let  the  robins  build  their  nest 

Among  its  branches,  o'er  my  breast; 

There  make  their  home  and  rear  their  young, 

And  cheer  the  day  with  joyous  song. 

And  let  the  rootlets  of  that  tree, 

While  creeping  downward,  twine  round  me; 

And,  from  the  dust  that  crumbles  there, 

Drink  in  the  food  they  need,  and  bear 

It  upward  to  the  topmost  boughs, 

To  give  them  life  through  winter's  snows, 

And  keep  them  green  long  as  they  wave — 

A  type  of  life  beyond  the  grave. 


NATURAL    EMBLEMS    OF    IMMORTALITY.  333 

While  grows  the  pine,  and  upward  shoots, 

And  downward  sends  its  tender  roots — 

Defiance  giving  to  the  blast, 

As  through  its  leaves  it  rushes  past — 

Remember,  friends,  the  soul  shall  live 

In  worlds  on  high.     Then  do  not  grieve; 

For  death  is  only  a  remove 

From  earth  below  to  heaven  above. 

III.  The  opening  flower  of  the  water  lily,  as  it 
reaches  the  surface  of  the  lake  in  its  upward  progress, 
may  illustrate  the  expansion  of  our  immortal  powers, 
when  death  is  swallowed  up  of  life.  In  the  earlier 
stages  of  its  growth  it  is  but  an  unsightly  stem  and 
bulb,  covered  with  slime  and  mud,  and  pressing  its 
way  slowly  up  from  the  bottom  of  the  stagnant  pool, 
through  mud  and  decaying  vegetation.  There  is  no 
visible  flower,  no  expansion,  no  beauty,  no  fragrance. 
At  length  it  reaches  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  in- 
stead of  growing  upward  still,  till  it  stands  up  above 
the  water,  it  instinctively  pauses  at  its  surface,  opens 
its  calyx,  lays  down  its  overcoat  upon  the  gentle  water, 
as  if  to  stand  sentinel,  and  separate  the  world  beneath 
from  which  it  has  just  emerged  from  that  above  in 
which  it  is  henceforth  to  dwell.  Having  thus  reached 
a  higher  and  purer  element,  it  opens  its  spotless 
bosom,  drinks  in  the  light  of  heaven,  lifts  its  anthers 
still  upward  toward  the  skies,  and  fills  the  air  with  its 
fragrance. 

So  with  the  soul  of  man.  In  the  present  life  she 
grovels  in  darkness  and  sin,  and  at  best  can  move  but 
slowly  upward,  through  ignorance,  decay,  and  death, 
towards  a  more  auspicious  region.  But  when  at 
length  she  shall  reach  the  grave,  lay  aside  there 
the  outer  vestments  of  the  flesh,  and  inhale  the 


334  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

atmosphere  of  immortality,  she  shall  develope  beauty 
and  fragrance  as  yet  scarce  suspected,  and  wear  a 
regalia  befitting  her  higher  and  more  glorious  state 
of  existence. 

IV.  The    "seven   year   locust,"    as   it    is   called, 
emerges  from  the  earth  at  the  end  of  its  period,  and 
crawls  up  upon  the  trees  and  shrubs,  a  rude,  unsightly 
insect,    without   wings    or    voice,    or    power   to    eat. 
Fastening    itself  to   a    leaf   or    limb    by  the    strong 
claws  of  its  fore  legs,  it  seems  at  first  to  fall   into  a 
stupor ;   and  then  bursts  open  on  the  back,  from   the 
head  to  the  waist,  whereupon  the  new  insect  crawls 
out,    ascends    to    the    topmost    bough    of    the    tree, 
stretches  and  dries   its  wings,  sings   its   resurrection 
song,  and  at  length  soars  from  tree  to  tree  unencum- 
bered, free  and  joyful.* 

V.  Travelers  tell  us  of  a  similar  insect  in  Japan — 
a  large  beetle,  which,  at  a  certain  period  of  its  growth, 
bursts  its  unsightly  casement,  emerges  from  its  ruins 
as    an    immense   and   gorgeous   butterfly,    and   goes 
singing   away  towards  the  skies. f     What  a  beautiful 
emblem  of  the  putting  off  of  our  fleshly  tabernacle  at 
death,  and  the  going  forth  of  the  glorified  spirit  to  a 
better  and  an  immortal  life  ! 

VI.  The  term  psyche,  says  Dwight  in  his  Grecian 
and   Roman  Mythology,  signifies  a   butterfly,  as  well 
as   the  human  soul.     It   is    rfot    unlikely,   therefore, 

*  The  author  has  some  twenty  of  the  abandoned  coffins  of  this  curious 
insect,  obtained  by  him  nt  Newark,  NT.  J.,  in  1859.  They  were  found 
still  hanging  to  the  lower  liinbs  or  leaves  of  the  trees,  while  their  former 
occupants  were  perched  upon  the  topmost  boughs,  beyond  all  danger  or 
annoyance,  and  were  filling  the  air  with  their  monotonous  and  piercing 
melodies. 

t  Payne's  Geography,  Vol.  i.  p.  20. 


NATURAL    EMBLEMS    OF    IMMORTALITY.  3o«3 

that  such  was  its  original  import,  as  pneuma  originally 
signified  only  air  or  wind;  and  that  it  was  chosen  to 
represent  the  immortal  spirit  of  man,  because  the 
transition  of  that  insect  from  its  chrysalis  to  its 
butterfly  state,  was  such  a  striking  emblem  of  the 
emerging  of  the  soul  from  the  body  at  the  hour  of  death. 

Look  at  that  curious  insect  in  its  caterpillar  state. 
How  active  and  voracious.  How  regular  and  health- 
ful its  growth.  But  at  length  it  seems  to  fall  sick 
and  lose  its  appetite.  Its  skin  becomes  wrinkled, 
like  that  of  an  old  man;  its  coat  of  hair  becomes  thin, 
and  changed  in  color,  and  it  seems  about  to  die.  But 
let  no  one  be  deceived  by  these  appearances.  Its 
youth  will  soon  be  renewed  like  the  eagles.  In  a  few 
days  the  gorgeous  butterfly  will  emerge  from  that  un- 
couth and  sickening  form,  like  a  spirit  bursting  from 
the  body,  to  flaunt  its  gay  wings  in  the  sunbeams, 
and  drink  in  nectar  from  every  opening  flower. 

What  an  exquisite  emblem  of  the  going  forth  of 
the  soul  from  the  body  at  the  hour  of  death,  to  in- 
habit the  regions  of  eternal  day ! 

Child  of  the  sun  !  pursue  thy  rapturous  flight, 
Mingling  with  her  thou  liv'st  in  fields  of  light, 
And  where  the  flowers  of  Paradise  unfold. 
Quaff  fragrant  nectar  from  their  cups  of  gold. 
Then  shall  thy  wings,  rich  as  an  evening  sky, 
Expand  and  shut,  in  silent  ecstaey  : — 
Yet  wert  thou  once  a  worm. — a  thing  that  crept 
On  the  bare  earth,  then  wrought  a  tomb  and  slept. 
And  such  is  man — soon  from  this  cell  of  clay, 
To  burst  a  seraph  in  the  blaze  of  day. 

Speaking  of  this  wonderful  transformation,  an  able 
writer  says : — 

"It  seems  like  a  resurrection  from  the  tomb  into  a 
fresh  life,  with  celestial  destinations.  It  is  so  analo- 


336  THE    IMMORTALITY    OP   THE    SOUL. 

gous  to  that  which  the  human  spirit  is  appointed  to 
undergo,  that  the  intellect  cannot  well  avoid  viewing 
the  insect  transformation  as  the  emblem,  the  token, 
the  natural  herald  and  promise  of  our  own.  The 
ancients,  without  our  Christian  Revelation,  thought 
so;  for  one  of  their  most  pleasing  imaginations,  yet 
visible  on  some  of  their  grave-stones,  which  we  dig 
up,  is  that  of  a  butterfly  over  the  name  or  the  in- 
scription which  they  record.  They  place  the  insect 
there  as  the  representation  of  the  Psyche — of  the 
animating  and  surviving  soul ;  as  the  intimation 
that  it  will  re-appear  in  a  new  form  and  region  of 
being.  It  is  thus  analogous  to  the  word  '  resurgam ' 
on  our  hatchments.  It  beautifully  and  picturesquely 
declares,  '  Non  omnis  moriar — I  shall  not  wholly  die  ; 
but  I  hope  yet  to  rise  again.'  The  allusion  and 
applicability  are  so  striking  that  I  cannot  but  be- 
lieve that  one  of  the  great  purposes  of  the  Deity  in 
creating  his  insect  kingdom  was  to  excite  this  senti- 
ment in  the  human  heart;  and  to  raise  by  it  the  con- 
templative mind  to  look  forward  to  a  possible  revival 
from  the  tomb,  as  the  butterfly  from  its  sepulchral 
chrysalis."* 

"The  transmutations,"  says  Chalmers,  "which  take 
place  in  the  state  of  other  animals,  as  birds  and  in- 
sects, and  yet  with  the  subsistence  of  the  living  prin- 
ciple in  each  of  the  stages;  warrant  the  conclusion, 
not  that  the  soul  must,  but  that  the  soul  may  survive 
the  entire  dissolution  of  that  material  frame-work 
wherewith  it  is  now  encompassed."  f 

*  Professor  Bush. 

•f-  Chalmers'  Lectures  on  Butler's  Analogy,  Lecture  I.,  Part  I.,  Sec- 
tion 2. 


NATURAL    EMBLEMS    OF    IMMORTALITY.  337 

"Like  the  insect,  the  human  personality  has  three 
states,  and  changes,  and  forms  of  being,  but  continues 
indestructible  through  all.  It  emerges  from  its  ovum 
into  the  figure  and  life  of  the  present  fleshly  body  ;  it 
rests  in  its  earthly  grave,  unextinguished,  though 
visible  to  mortal  eye  no  longer;  and  it  will  emerge 
from  that  at  its  appointed  time  into  its  ethereal  nature 
and  immortalized  capacities;  always  the  same  self  in 
each  transmutation ;  never  dying  or  dissolving  with 
its  material  investment;  but  surviving,  to  bloom  in 
everlasting  youth  amid  the  most  exquisite  felicity — 
the  spiritualized  butterfly,  with  angel  wings  perhaps, 
and  an  imperishable  vitality."* 

We  cite  this  extract  as  containing  several  beautiful 
ideas,  and,  on  the  whole,  pertinent  to  our  theme,  but 
there  is  one  point  upon  which  we  wish,  in  passing,  to 
indicate  our  dissent;  and  that  is,  where  the  writer 
speaks  of  the  "human  personality"  as  resting  in  the 
grave  unextinguished,  to  emerge  therefrom  at  the 
resurrection.  He  seems  here  to  imagine  that  the  soul 
sleeps  in  the  grave  till  the  body  is  raised;  and  yet  so 
contrary  is  this  idea  to  what  he  had  before  said  of  the 
" psyche — the  animating  and  surviving  soul,"  that  we 
rather  attribute  it  to  the  confounding  of  the  two  ideas 
of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  the  resurrection 
of  the  body,  for  the  time  being,  in  the  mind  of  the 
writer;  and  to  an  overweening  desire  for  the  moment 
to  make  the  analogy  between  the  case  of  man  and  the 
butterfly  as  complete  as  possible.  He  had  no  idea 
after  all  of  the  sleep  of  the  soul  in  the  grave  from 
death  to  the  general  resurrection. 

We  have  thus   seen  that  various   facts  and  phe- 

*  Turner's  Sacred  History  of  the  World,  p.  354. 
22 


0-38  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SUFL. 

nomena  in  the  natural  world  are  strikingly  adapted 
to  shadow  forth  and  illustrate  the  change  of  death, 
and  the  survivency  of  the  spirit  when  the  body  dies. 
That  such  was  the  design  of  these  arrangements  on 
the  part  of  the  Creator,  it  might  be  too  much  to  affirm ; 
and  yet  what  Christian  can  doubt  that  they  were  so 
intended?  Who  but  man  can  become  the  observer 
and  the  student  of  these  phenomena?  And  to  what 
can  he  apply  them  if  not  to  the  problem  of  immor- 
tality ? 

Man  is  not  all  of  earth  ; 

The  glowing  brightness  of  bright  Fancy's  fires, — 
The  boundlessness  of  all  his  soul's  desires, — 

Prove  him  of  heavenly  birth. 

Look  on  his  glorious  face  ! 
There  the  quick  play  of  varied  passions  see  ! 
Look  on  that  brow  of  thought !     Must  it  not  be 

A  spirit's  dwelling-place  ? 

Behold  that  changing  eye  ! 
Does  not  that  glance  of  tenderness  and  love, 
That  love  of  high  resolve,  or  pity,  prove 

Something  that  will  not  die  ? 

The  grave  can  claim  no  part, 
Save  that  on  which  there  falleth  our  sad  tears ; 
Clay  cannot  cover  all  those  hopes  and  fears 

Which  swell  each  throbbing  heart. 

Would  God  a  palace  rear 
For  a  frail  being  with  no  nobler  life 
Than  that  which  closes  with  the  dying  strife? 

A  life  that  endeth  here  ? 

Ah,  no?  the  tenant  must 
More  glorious  than  its  glorious  mansion  be; 
Whose  dome  and  columns  aoon,  alas !  we  see 

All  crumbling  into  duat. 


NATURAL    EMBLEMS    OF    IMMORTALITY.          339 

Dust  may  to  dust  return, 
Ashes  to  kindred  ashes  fall  again ; 
But  thought  dies  not :  of  all  the  mind's  bright  train 

None  find  a  funeral  urn. 

Then,  though  thine  eye  grow  dim, 
And  sluggish  flow  the  current  of  thy  blood, 
Look  up,  0  man  !  in  steadfast  faith,  to  God ; 

For  thou  shalt  go  to  him. 


340  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

SUMMARY   OF   THE     ARGUMENT    AND     PRACTICAL   CON- 
CLUSIONS. 

WE  have  now  gone  over  the  entire  ground  of  the 
argument,  noticing  the  principal  evidences,  natural 
and  revealed,  of  the  soul's  immortality.  Let  us  now 
recapitulate  the  various  points  established  and  consid- 
erations urged,  and  notice  the  bearing  of  the  general 
doctrine  upon  several  other  minor  questions  in  which 
we  all  have  or  should  have  a  deep  and  abiding  in- 
terest. 

In  the  first  ten  chapters,  devoted  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  immortality,  we  have 
shown  that  matter  and  spirit  are  distinct  essences — 
that  man  is  a  two-fold  being,  consisting  of  a  spirit 
in  a  body — that  souls  are  propagated  and  not  im- 
mediately created — that  as  the  life  of  Adam  began 
with  the  union  of  the  spirit  with  his  body,  so  death  is 
a  separation  of  these  two  natures  of  man — that  souls 
do  not  become  extinct  at  death,  or  sleep  in  the  grave 
with  the  body  till  the  resurrection,  but  have  a  sepa- 
rate and  conscious  existence  from  death  to  the  resur- 
rection morning — that  they  do  not  at  once  enter  upon 
their  final  abode,  but  remain  in  Hades,  "  Paradise,"  or 
"the  intermediate  state,"  till  their  bodies  are  raised 


RECAPITULATION    AND    CONCLUSIONS.  841 

in  the  last  day — that  immortal  existence  is  not  a  r<  - 
suit  of  redemption,  hinging  upon  our  faith  in  Christ ; 
and  that  the  supposed  annihilation  of  the  wicked  at 
the  day  of  judgment  is  both  unscriptural  and  absurd. 

In  the  last  twenty-one  chapters,  Part  Second,  de- 
voted to  the  Rational  Evidences  of  a  Future  Life, 
we  have  explained  the  character  and  value  of  the 
Rational  Argument ;  have  cited  various  indications  of 
another  life  in  the  structure  and  phenomena  of  the 
natural  world  ;  and  have  corroborated  the  infallible 
teaching  of  the  Divine  Oracles,  by  arguments  drawn 
from  the  general  belief  of  mankind — the  relation  of 
man  to  the  lower  animals — the  exquisite  structure  of 
the  human  body — the  dominion  of  the  soul  over  the 
body — the  unequal  development  of  the  mind  and 
body — the  energy  of  the  soul  in  cases  where  physical 
organs  are  wanting — the  completeness  of  our  mental 
powers  under  bodily  mutilations — the  phenomena  of 
reverie,  sleep,  dreaming  and  catalepsy  ;  and  the  vigor 
and  activity  of  the  soul  in  the  hour  of  death.  We 
have  also  shown  from  natural  analogies  that  the  dis- 
solution of  the  human  body  affords  no  ground  for  the 
presumption  that  the  mind  perishes  with  it;  and  have 
sustained  the  teachings  of  the  Bible  by  arguments 
drawn  from  the  indestructibility  of  matter, — the  im- 
materiality of  the  soul,  and  her  powers  of  memory, — 
the  rapidity  of  her  mental  process — her  capabilities 
of  improvement,  and  her  vast  achievements  in  know- 
ledge and  skill,  the  desire  for  posthumous  remem- 
brance and  fame,  our  earthly  discontent,  the  power  of 
hope,  and  our  longings  for  immortality. 

To  all  this  we  have  added  an  argument  drawn  from 
our  forebodings  of  the  future,  and  the  power  of  con- 


342  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

science  and  remorse  ;  and  another  drawn  from  our 
continued  love  for  the  dead,  closing  in  the  last  chap- 
ter with  the  fragmentary  gleanings  of  the  field,  under 
the  head  of  natural  emblems  of  the  soul's  departure  at 
death. 

We  have  thus  seen  that  although  nature  and  rea- 
son are  incapable  of  satisfactorily  revealing  or  dis- 
covering a  future  state  of  existence,  yet,  when  once 
revealed,  they  fully  respond  to  and  corroborate  this 
glorious  truth.  As  earth  echoed  back  the  voice  of 
God  in  the  thunders  of  Sinai,  so  when  a  voice  from 
heaven  resounds  in  our  ears  the  glad  tidings — "  Ano- 
ther life  after  death," — the  hills  and  vales  of  earth, 
the  plants  that  grow,  the  beasts  under  our  dominion, 
and  the  insect  tribes — the  moon  and  the  stars,  the 
human  body  and  the  deathless  soul  with  all  her 
powers,  echo  back  the  joyful  pean — "  another  life  ! — 
another  life  !  ! — ANOTHER  LIFE  ! !  !" 

Oh,  listen,  man  ! 

A  voice  within  us  speaks  that  startling  word, 
Man,  thou  shall  never  die  !     Celestial  voices 
Hyinn  it  into  our  souls.     According  harps 
By  angel  fingers  touched  when  the  mild  stars 
Of  morning  sang  together,  sound  forth  still, 
The  song  of  our  great  Immortality. 

And  now,  what  is  the  practical  bearing  of  the  great 
and  glorious  truth  that  both  heaven  and  earth  have 
conspired  to  teach  us  ?  What  lessons  ought  we  to 
deduce  from  the  survey  of  the  evidences  of  an  immor- 
tal, endless  life  after  death,  as  developed  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapters  ?  What  should  be  the  effect  of  the 
light  of  this  great  central  truth,  upon  other  and  sub- 
ordinate questions  by  which  it  is  surrounded  ?  We 
answer, 


RECAPITULATION    AND    CONCLUSIONS.  343 

I.   That  it  discloses,  in  a  strong  and  cheering  light, 

the  IMPORTANCE,  PERFECTION  AND  GLORY  OF  REVEALED 
RELIGION. 

With  all  the  light  that  "Reason  and  Nature"  could 
shed  upon  the  anxious  problem,  even  with  the  aid  of 
an  early  revelation,  borne  along  the  ages  through  the 
channels  of  tradition — the  philosophers  and  sages  of 
antiquity  were  utterly  unable  fully  to  assure  them- 
selves of  another  life  beyond  the  grave.  The  best  that 
Socrates  could  say,  was,  "  I  hope  I  am  going  to  good 
men,  though  this  I  would  not  take  upon  me  peremp- 
torily to  assert."  Speaking  of  the  two  ideas,  of  immor- 
tality and  of  non-existence,  Cicero  could  only  affirm, 
"Which  of  these  is  true  God  only  knows,  and  which  is 
most  probable  a  very  great  question."  "When  I 
read*  I  assent ;  but  when  I  have  laid  down  the  book, 
all  that  assent  vanishes."  And  such  only  was  the 
faith  of  Seneca.  "Immortality,"  said  he,  "however 
desirable,  is  rather  promised  than  proved  by  those  great 
men."f 

Such  is  the  light  of  "reason  and  nature."  Not 
thus  doubtful  is  the  Christian  believer.  He  knows 
that  if  his  earthly  house  is  dissolved,  he  has  a  building 
of  God,  eternal  in  the  heavens  ;  that  to  depart  is  to 
be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better ;  and  that  beyond 
this  transitory  life  there  awaits  him  a  conscious  and 
joyful  spiritual  existence — a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory. 

Of  the  ages  without  revelation  as  compared  with 
the  present,  it  may  well  be  said, 

Once  star  on  star  in  kind  succession  rose, 
Now  the  great  sun  in  healing  splendor  glows; 

•  The  writings  of  Socrate*  and  P!  >•  •       -rate-*  and  Plato. 


344  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

And  the  man  who  rejects  the  Bible,  and  trusts  to 
nature  alone  as  his  tutor,  must  ever  wander  in  dark- 
ness and  uncertainty,  a  prey  to  distressing  doubts  and 
anxious  forebodings  as  to  what  awaits  him  when  his 
change  shall  come.  Look  at  Henry  Kirk  White 
first  as  a  votary  of  natural  religion,  and  then  as  a 
devout  student  of  the  Bible,  as  described  in  his  own 
inimitable  "  Star  of  Bethlehem." 

Once  on  the  raging  seas  I  rode, 

The  storm  was  loud,  the  night  was  dark, 
The  ocean  yawned,  and  rudely  blowed 

The  wind  that  tossed  my  foundering  bark. 
Deep  horror  then  my  vitals  froze ; 

Death  struck,  I  ceased  the  tide  to  stem  ; 
When  suddenly  a  star  arose, 

It  was  the  Star  of  Bethlehem. 

It  was  my  guide,  my  light,  my  all; 

It  bade  my  dark  forebodings  cease ; 
And  through  the  storm  and  danger's  thrall, 

It  led  me  to  the.  port  of  peace. 
Now  safely  moored — my  perils  o'er, 

I'll  sing,  first  in  night's  diadem, 
Forever  and  forevermore, 

The  Star  !  the  Star  of  Bethlehem. 

And  it  is  only  by  the  assurances  of  God's  holy 
word  that  the  soul  ever  can  be  "  safely  moored,"  or 
have  her  "  dark  forebodings"  entirely  cease. 

How  truthfully,  also,  has  Beattie  described  the  dif- 
ference between  natural  and  revealed  religion,  in  his 
beautiful  "Hermit." 


'Twas  thus  by  the  glare  of  false  science  betray'd, 
That  leads,  to  bewilder ;  and  dazzles  to  blind  ; 

My  thoughts  went  to  roam,  from  shade  onward  to  shade, 
Destruction  before  me,  and  sorrow  behind. 


RECAPITULATION  AND   CONCLUSIONS.  345 

"  Oh  pity,  great  Father  of  light,"  then  I  cried, 

"  Thy  creature  who  fain  would  not  wander  from  thee ; 
So,  humbly  in  dust  I  relinquish  my  pride : 

From  doubt  and  from  darknfts  ihou  only  canst  free! 

"  And  darkness  and  doubt  are  now  fleeing  away, 

No  longer  I  roam  in  conjecture  forlorn, 
So  breaks  on  the  traveler,  faint,  and  astray, 

The  bright  and  the  balmy  effulgence  of  morn. 
See  Truth,  Love,  and  Mercy  in  triumph  descending, 

And  nature  all  glowing  in  Eden's  first  bloom  ! 
On  the  cold  cheek  of  Death  smiles  and  roses  are  blending, 

And  beauty  immortal  awakes  from  the  tomb." 

Thus  are  life  and  immortality  brought  to  light  by 
the  gospel. 

Oh  thou  thrice  blessed  word  of  God  ! 
Most  wondrous  book  !  bright  candle  of  the  Lord ! 
Star  of  eternity !  the  only  star 
By  which  the  bark  of  man  could  navigate 
The  sea  of  life,  and  gain  the  coast  of  bliss 
Securely  : — only  star  which  rose  on  time, 
And,  on  its  dark  and  troubled  billows,  still 
As  generation,  drifting  swiftly  by, 
Succeeded  generation,  threw  a  ray 
Of  heaven's  own  light,  and  to  the  hills  of  God, 
The  everlasting  hills,  pointed  the  sinner's  eye. 

By  the  anxious  doubts  and  fears  of  the  unbelieving  * 

heart,  and  by  all  the  cherished  joys  that  spring  from 
the  hope  of  a  better  and  endless  life  after  death,  let 
us  love,  and  study,  and  believe,  and  obey  that  holy 
volume  the  BIBLE,  which  alone  is  able  to  dispel 
all  gloom  and  fear,  and  point  the  eager  anxious 
spirit  of  man  to  the  bright  and  open  pathway  of  im- 
mortality ! 

II.    Though   reason   and  nature  are   unable  satis- 
factorily to  reveal  a  future  state,  YET  ARE  THEY  NOT 

ON  THAT  ACCOUNT  TO  BE  DESPISED  OR  UNDERVALUED. 


346  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

As  the  ally  and  elucidator  of  revealed  truth, 
natural  theology  has  its  legitimate  office  and  its  im- 
portance. Our  complaint  of  the  Deist  is,  not  that  he 
honors  reason  and  nature,  but  that  he  lavishes  upon 
them  the  attention  and  the  homage  due  to  revelation 
alone,  and  rejects  the  only  guide  that  can  make  him 
truly  wise.  On  the  contrary,  we  should  welcome  to 
our  vision  the  light  from  heaven,  and  let  it  variegate 
and  beautify  the  whole  realm  of  nature.  With  the 
Bible  in  our  hands, 

Nature  all  o'er  is  consecrated  ground, 
Teeming  with  growths  immortal  and  divine. 

Nature  and  revelation  have  a  common  Author,  and 
are  ever  in  harmony ;  hence,  unless  the  judgment  has 
been  first  perverted,  and  the  reasoning  faculties 
clouded  by  the  dark  shadows  of  scepticism,  the  most 
devout  student  of  Nature  will  ever  be  found  among 
the  most  humble  and  devout  worshippers  of  the  true 
and  living  God.  As  Christian  believers,  therefore, 
we  have  no  quarrel  with  "natural  religion,"  when 
properly  interpreted  and  applied,  and  kept  in  its 
legitimate  sphere  as  the  ally  and  elucidator  of  the 
Bible. 

III.  The  years  of  our  future  and  immortal  ex- 
istence Stand  IN  IMPRESSIVE  CONTRAST  WITH  OUR 
PRESENT  BRIEF  AND  RAPIDLY  DEPARTING  LIFE. 

Well  may  it  be  called  a  "vapor,"  a  "hand's 
breadth,"  a  "tale  that  is  told." 

Lo,  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land, 
'Twixt  two  unbounded  seas  we  stand. 

Behind   us  are   the   numberless  years  of  the  past, 


RECAPITULATION    AND    CONCLUSIONS.  347 

and  before  us  roll  the  countless  ages  of  eternity  to 
come.  "Life  is  a  rapid  moment,  and  it  hastens  to  be 
gone;  it  gathers  dimness  and  expires."*  Like  a 
bubble  upon  the  wave  it  soon  breaks  and  is  seen  no 
more. 

With  all  its  cares  and  anxieties,  its  days  and 
nights  and  months  and  rolling  years — its  hopes  and 
fears  and  joys  and  sorrows — what  is  this  mortal  life 
but  the  mere  beginning  of  an  endless  existence  ? 

This  is  the  bud  of  being,  the  dim  dawn, 
The  twilight  of  our  day,  the  vestibule  : 
Life's  theater,  as  yet  is  shut ;  and  Death, 
Strong  death  alone  can  heave  the  massy  bar, 
This  gross  impediment  of  clay  remove, 
And  set  us,  embryos  of  existence,  free. 

As  was  said  of  a  little  girl  whose  pure  spirit  was 
early  called  away  from  earth,  so  it  might  also  have 
been  said  of  her  had  she  lived  and  shone  on  earth  for 
half  a  century. 

She  sparkled,  was  exhaled,  and  went  to  heaven. 

We  step  upon  the  stage  of  conscious  being,  cast  a 
hasty  glance  around  us,  draw  a  few  breaths,  smile, 
shed  a  few  tears,  utter  a  groan  of  agony,  and  are 
gone !  And,  yet,  we  live,  and  shall  live  forever ! 
Go  count  the  leaves  of  all  earth's  forests,  the  drops 
of  every  sea  and  lake  and  stream,  the  sands  of  every 
shore,  and  all  the  stars  of  heaven — let  each  represent 
an  age  of  the  corning  future,  and  when  the  last  leaf 
and  drop  and  star  and  grain  of  sand  is  told  off  in 

*  Rev.  Dr.  Dempster  at  a  missionary  meeting  in  Watertown,  N.  Y., 
in  1836,  as  he  was  about  to  embark  for  Buenos  Ayres  as  a  mis- 
sionary. 


348  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

registering  the  ongoing  cycles  of  our  immortal  ex- 
istence, even  then  we  shall  but  have  commenced  to 
live;  and  the  years  of  our  conscious  eternal  life-time 
shall  still  go  on,  and  on  forever  !  * 

IV.  The  doctrine  of  the  soul's  immortality  should 
enable  us  THE  BETTER  TO  UNDERSTAND  THE  INESTI- 
MABLE VALUE  OF  THIS  SHORT  AND  FLEETING  LIFE. 

As  the  years  of  childhood  throw  their  influence 
forward  upon  the  character  and  destiny  and  happi- 
ness of  man  as  long  as  he  lives  in  this  world,  and  as 
the  right  improvement  or  neglect  of  spring-time  de- 
termines the  quality  and  the  amount  of  the  coming 
harvest,  so  this  short  life,  brief  and  fleeting  as  it  is, 
will  throw  forward  its  light  or  its  shade  upon  all  the 
years  of  our  coming  existence.  As  well  expect  the 
right  eye  of  that  little  boy,  that  has  been  put  out  by 
the  rebounding  arrow  from  his  cross-bow,  to  be  re- 
stored when  he  reaches  manhood,  as  to  expect  the 
soul  to  recover  from  the  scars  and  bruises  and  dislo- 
cations of  sin,  in  the  world  to  which  she  goes.  What- 
soever a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap ;  and  here 
only  may  we  sow  to  the  Spirit — to  truth  and  virtue, 
and  faith  and  holy  living — that  we  may  hereafter  reap 
eternal  life. 

*  What  a  very  great  sum  is  a  billion !  It  is  a  million  of  millions.  A 
million  ^eems  large  enough;  but  a  million  of  millions!  how  long  do 
you  suppose  it  would  take  you  to  count  it  ?  A  mill  which  makes  one 
hundred  pins  in  a  minute,  if  kept  to  work  night  and  day,  would  only 
make  fifty-two  millions  five  hundred  and  ninety-six  thousand  pin.-  :i 
year:  and  at  that  rate  the  mill  must  work  twenty  thousand  years  with- 
out stopping  a  single  moment,  in  order  to  turn  out  a  billion  of  pins. 
What  a  vast  sum,  then,  is  a  billion  ;  it  is  beyond  our  reach  to  conceive 
of  it.  And  yet,  when  a  billion  of  years  shall  have  passed,  eternity  will 
seem  to  have  just  begun.  How  important,  then,  is  the  question,  "  Where 
shall  I  spend  eternity?'' 


RECAPITULATION   AND   CONCLUSIONS.  349 

• 

How,  then,  can  we  squander  these  precious  hours 
and  days  and  years,  in  idle  amusements  and  dissipa- 
tion? How  neglect  from  year  to  year  the  great  sal- 
vation provided  in  Jesus  Christ?  Oh  how  unwise, 
how  perilous,  how  suicidal ! 

No  room  for  mirth  or  trifling  here, 
For  worldly  hope  or  worldly  fear, 
If  life  so  soon  is  gone. 

Like  the  swift  ships  it  is  speeding  away,  and  will 
soon  be  gone,  to  return  no  more. 

Our  life  as  a  dream  ;  our  time  as  a  stream, 

Glides  swiftly  away, 

And  the  fugitive  moment  refuses  to  stay. 

The  arrow  is  flown, — the  moment  is  gone, 

The  millennial  year 

Rushes  on  to  our  view,  and  eternity's  here. 

As  the  generations  that  have  preceded  us  like  the 
successive  waves  of  the  sea  are  now  all  numbered  with 
the  dead,  so  we,  dear  reader,  shall  soon  have  done 
with  all  things  earthly,  and  entered  upon  our  eternal 
reward.  Neglect  not,  then,  the  time  and  opportunities 
that  you  now  enjoy. 

Seize,  mortal !  seize  the  transient  hour, 

Improve  each  moment  as  it  flies ; 
Life's  a  short  summer,  man  a  flower ;  '' 

He  dies,  alas  !  how  soon,  he  dies. 

The  Rabbins  had  a  legend  that  when  Methuselah 
was  four  hundred  and  sixty  years  old,  the  angel  of 
the  Lord  appeared  to  him,  told  him  that  he  was  to 
live  five  centuries  longer,  and  advised  him  to  erect  for 
himself  a  permanent  dwelling-place.  "  Only  five 
hundred  years  ?"  said  the  patriarch  with  a  sigh  ;  "  if 


••><30  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

that  is  all  I  need  no  better  dwelling.  My  old  tent 
will  answer  till  I  leave  the  world." 

Alas  how  few  of  us  fully  realize  that  this  is  not  our 
home  and  live  as  strangers  and  pilgrims  in  the  earth. 

Oh  for  more  of  the  spirit  of  this  beautiful  legend, 
even  among  the  professed  Christians  and  ministers  of 
the  land ! 

The  soul  of  man,  a  native  of  the  skies, 
High-born,  and  free,  her  freedom  should  maintain, 
Uphold,  unmortgaged  for  earth's  little  bribes. 

V.  In  view  of  the  endless  years  before  us,  look  at  the 

COMPARATIVE  VALUE  OF  THINGS  TEMPORAL  AND  THINGS 
ETERNAL. 

The  body  needs  food  and  raiment  and  shelter  only 
for  a  few  short  years  and  yet  how  we  struggle  and 
toil  and  vex  ourselves,  and  burden  and  enslave  the 
immortal  nature  within  us,  to  lay  up  much  goods  for 
many  years.  But  of  what  account  will  it  be  to  any 
of  us  a  hundred  years  to  come  whether  we  were  clad 
in  coarse  raiment,  fed  upon  plain  food  and  dwelt  and 
died  in  a  hovel,  or  were  clothed  in  purple  and  fine 
linen,  fared  sumptuously  every  day,  and  lived  and 
died  in  a  palace  ?  How  little  can  our  earthly  condi- 
tion in  these  respects,  affect  o.ur  destiny  or  our  hap- 
piness in  the  world  of  spirits  to  which  we  go. 

But  not  so  with  the  immortal  nature.  If  that  has 
neglected  to  put  on  the  wedding  garment  and  to  taste 
that  bread  of  life  of  which  if  we  eat  we  shall  live 
forever,  all  is  lost !  True  religion,  and  that  alone, 
can  prepare  us  either  to  live  or  die,  or  to  be  happy 
forever  beyond  the  grave. 

Souls  are  her  charge ;  to  her  'tis  given 
To  train  them  for  their  native  heaven. 


RECAPITULATION    AND    CUNCLl>I«'N  S. 

While,  therefore,  us  beings  dwelling  for  a  time  in 
houses  of  clay,  we  give  a  portion  of  our  attention  and 
efforts  to  the  satisfying  of  the  demands  of  these  dying 
natures,  how  unwise  and  unbecoming  immortal  beings 
to  lavish  all  our  time  and  powers  upon  the  things  of 
earth,  as  if  we  had  no  heaven  to  gain,  and  no  hell  to 
shun  beyond  the  tomb  ! 

Oh  may  we  set  our  affections  upon  things  above  and 
not  upon  things  on  the  earth !  It  is  of  little  account 
how  we  are  circumstanced  here  for  a  few  brief  years, 
whether  rich  or  poor,  honored  or  forgotten,  if  we  are 
wise  unto  salvation,  live  for  eternity,  and  lay  hold 
upon  everlasting  life. 

No  matter  which  my  thoughts  employ  ; 
A  moment's  misery  or  joy  ; 

But  oh  !  when  both  shall  end, 
Where  shall  I  find  my  destined  place? 
Shall  I  my  everlasting  days 

With  fiends  or  angels  spend  ? 

Nothing  is  worth  a  thought  beneath, 
But  how  I  may  escape  the  death 

That  never,  never  dies  ! 
How  make  mine  own  election  sure ; 
And  when  I  fail  on  earth,  secure 

A  mansion  in  the  skies. 

Oh  let  us  live,  not  for  the  body  alone — for  earth  and 
time — but  for  the  soul,  for  heaven  and  immortality  ! 
For  what  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  shall  gain  the 
whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?  or  what  shall  a 
man  .give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ? 

VI.  In  view  of  an  immortal  existence  after  death, 

HOW    REASONABLE  AND    SUBLIME    AND    GLORIOUS    THE 
WORK  OF  REDEMPTION  BY  OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST. 

To  those  who  deny  an  immortal  existence  to  man, 


•>~>-2  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE -SOUL. 

it  is  not  strange  that  the  glorious  doctrine  of  redemp- 
tion should  seem  a  cunningly  devised  fable,  and  Jesus 
Christ  as  a  root  out  of  dry  ground.  If  no  hereafter 
awaits  us,  of  what  importance  or  real  value  can  the 
redemption  of  the  soul  be  ?  "  Let  us  eat,  and  drink, 
for  to-morrow  we  die."  But  if  we  are  to  live  for- 
ever beyond  the  grave — if  the  curse  of  sin  must 
either  be  removed  by  a  sacrificial  expiation,  accepted 
by  each  individual  spirit,  or  borne  forever  in  the  world 
to  come,  then  the  redemption  of  the  soul  becomes  a 
theme  that  angels  may  well  desire  to  look  into.  Well 
might  the  Father  eternal  give  his  only  begotten  Son 
to  become  the  propitiation  for  our  sins.  Well  might 
he  wrap  himself  in  the  vestments  of  our  humanity, 
that  through  death  he  might  redeem  us  from  the  curse 
of  the  law,  becoming  a  curse  for  us.  Well  might  he 
bear  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  that  the 
blessings  of  pardon  and  holiness  might  light  up  all 
the  ages  of  our  endless  existence.  Such  an  object  is 
worthy  of  God, — and  of  the  infinite  sacrifice  of  Calvary 
made  to  secure  it. 

And  no  wonder  that  heaven  and  earth,  angels  and 
devils,  are  enlisted  in  the  solution  of  the  problem  of 
the  character  of  our  future  existence — a  problem  that 
can  only  be  measured  by  the  agonies  of  the  cross  and 
the  years  of  our  coming  eternity  ! 

The  soul  of  man — Jehovah's  breath ! 

That  keeps  two  worlds  at  strife ; 
Hell  moves  beneath  to  work  its  death, 

Heaven  stoops  to  give  it  life. 

When  we  contemplate  her  powers — her  capabilities 
of  improvement,  and  of  joy  or  sorrow — and  her  desti- 
nation to  endless  being ;  then  only  do  we  rise  to  some 


RECAPITULATION  AND  CONCLUSIONS.     353 

just  conception  of  her  almost  infinite  value.  Of  what 
importance  is  a  city,  a  fleet  of  ships,  an  empire,  com- 
pared with  one  deathless  soul  of  man  ? 

Knowest  thou  the  importance  of  a  soul  immortal  ? 

Behold  yon  midnight  glory  !  world  on  world  ! 

Amazing  pomp  !  redouble  this  :uuazo. 

Ten  thousand  add,  add  twice  ten  thousand  more, 

Then  weigh  the  whole  !     One  soul  outweighs  them  all. 

And  calls  the  astonishing  magnificence 

Of  unintelligent  creation  poor  ! 

23 


354  IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

4 

CONSOLATION    FOR   THE    BEREFT   AND    SORROWING. 

A  FIRM  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is 
well  calculated  to  mitigate  our  sorrow  and  dry  our 
tears  when  those  we  love  are  removed  from  us  by 
death. 

I.  It  is  consoling  to  think  as  we  see  the  once  fair 
and  lovely  forms  of  friends  and  kindred  consigned 
to  the  tomb,  that  they  STILL  LIVE,  AND  MAY  RE- 
MEMBER AND  LOVE  US  STILL  IN  THE  FAR  OFF  SPIRIT 

LAND. 

Why,  what  is  death  but  life 

In  other  forms  of  being — life  without 

The  coarser  attributes  of  man,  the  dull 

And  momently  decaying  frame  which  holds 

The  eternal  spirit  in,  and  binds  it  down 

To  brotherhood  with  brutes?    There's  no  such  thing 

As  death !    What's  called  so  is  but  the  beginning 

Of  a  new  existence ;  a  fresh  segment  in 

The  eternal  round  of  change. 

Though  we  talk  of  them  as  dead,  yet  theirs  alone 
is  "the  land  of  life." 

"  This  is  the  desert,  this  the  solitude: 
How  populous,  how  vital  is  the  grave!" 

Well  may  we  write  upon  the  tomb-stone,  "Not 
lost,  but  gone  before."  A  beloved  Christian  friend 
has  left  us,  but  he  has  only  emigrated  to  a  "better 


ISOLATION    FOR    THE    BEREFT.  OOO 

country."  We  see  beyond  the  stream  the  smoke  of 
his  cottage.  Was  the  deceased  a  tender  infant,  and 
lovely  little  boy  or  girl?  They  have  part  in  the  great 
propitiation,  without  faith,  without  baptism,  without 
"extreme  unction,"  or  any  other  ceremony.  Christ 
the  second  Adam  has  for  them  fully  retrieved  the 
ruin  brought  upon  them  by  the  first.  There  is  no 
place  in  hell  for  infant  spirits;  for  "of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  Look  up,  then,  bereft  and 
weeping  mother !  Like  flocks  of  snow-white  doves,  the 
souls  of  the  early  dead  hover  over  the  heavenly  para- 
dise, and  dwell  in  the  light  of  God's  presence  forever. 

Even  though  you  may  not  be  a  Christian,  and 
therefore  feel  that  you  are  not  prepared  to  die,  yet 
in  respect  to  the  babe  that  has  been  removed  from 
you,  all  is  safe.  It  had  no  knowledge  of  God,  of  his 
holy  law,  of  the  sin  of  Adam,  or  of  Christ  the  Saviour, 
and  could  have  none ;  and  without  repentance  or  faith 
its  little  robes  are  washed  and  made  white  in  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb.  Think  of  it,  then,  not  as  in  that  tiny 
grave  where  you  go  to  weep,  but  above  the  stars;  not 
as  while  with  you  subject  to  sickness,  pain,  and 
death,  but  where  none  ever  say  I  am  sick,  and  where 
sickness,  pain,  and  death,  are  unknown.  Not  as  in- 
habiting a  world  of  sin,  but  a  citizen  of  that  bright 
and  holy  land,  where  no  clouds  are  seen,  no  tears 
flow,  where  flowers  never  fade,  and  where  "sorrow 
and  sighing  shall  flee  away  !" 

II.  Do  you  weep  for  a  pious  brother,  parent,  child, 
or  companion?  THEY  LIVE  AXD  ARE  AT  REST! 

"Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord  from 
henceforth:  yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest 
from  their  labors."  Rev.  xiv.  13. 


356  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

I  see  a  world  of  spirits  bright, 

That  taste  the  pleasure  there  ; 
They  all  are  robed  in  spotless  white, 

And  conquering  palms  they  hear. 

"I  shall  go  to  him,"  said  the  heart-stricken  David 
of  his  departed  son.  Oh  how  this  thought  has  soothed 
the  agonies  of  millions  of  bleeding  hearts!  "My 
brother,  my  wife,  my  gentle  babe  are  gone,  but  they 
live  immortal  with  the  angels,  where  all  tears  are 
wiped  away."  Happy  dwellers  in  that  "better 
country." 

Dreams  may  nut  picture  a  world  so  fair, 
Sorrow  and  sin  may  not  enter  there, 
Time  doth  not  breathe  on  it-  loom, 

"I'is  beyond  the  stars,  and  be\ond  the  tomb. 

Oh  could  they  but  speak  to  us  from  these  realms 
of  peace,  how  would  they  chide  our  sorrows,  and  bid 
us  to  weep  no  more.  Methinks  could  we  in  this  lower 
world  but  hear  their  joyful  chorus — their  song  of 
triumph  and  rejoicing  would  be — 

I  shine  in  the  light  of  God; 

His  likene.-s  stamps  my  brow; 
Through  the  valley  of  death  my  feet  have  trod. 

And  I  reign  in  glory  now. 

No  sin,  no  grief,  no  pain. 

Safe  in  my  happy  home, 
My  feurs  all  fled,  my  doubts  all  slain, 

My  hour  of  triumph's  come. 

I  hiivc  reached  the  joys  of  heaven  : 

I  n m  one  of  the  .sainted  band; 
To  my  head  a  crown  of  gold  is  given, 

And  a  harp  is  in  my  hand. 

Do  you  mourn  when  another  star 

Shines  out  in  the  glittering  sky  ? 
Do  you  weep  when  the  raging  voice  of  war 

And  the  st'Tnis  of  conflict  d 


CONSOLATION    FOR   THE    BEREFT.  357 

Then  why  do  your  tears  run  down, 

Why  your  hearts  so  sorely  riven, 
For  another  gem  in  a  Saviour's  crown, 

And  another  soul  in  heaven  ? 

Think  of  the  scenes  of  glory  that  passed  before 
the  enraptured  gaze  of  the  Revelator.  See  that 
gorgeous  city,  with  its  gates  of  pearl,  its  twelve 
foundations,  its  streets  of  gold,  its  river  and  its  trees 
of  life!  Do  you  see  that  joyful  company  in  white 
robes?  Mark  those  palms  of  victory!  See  those 
crowns  of  life  adorning  every  brow !  Mark  how  with 
harp  and  voice  they  pour  forth  their  songs  of  ever- 
lasting joy  unto  God  and  the  Lamb  !  Your  departed 
kindred  are  there  !  Your  friend  is  one  of  that  joyful 
and  immortal  company. 

Oh  their  crowns !  how  bright  they  sparkle, 

Such  as  monarehs  never  wore : 
They  are  gone  to  richer  pastures, 

Jesus  is  their  Shepherd  there  : 

Hail !  ye  happy,  happy  spirits, 

Death  no  more  shall  make  you  fear, 
Grief  nor  sorrow,  pain  nor  anguish, 

Shall  no  more  distress  you  there. 

Then  wipe  away  those  tears.  Anoint  thy  head 
and  wash  thy  face,  that  thou  appear  no  more  to 
sorrow.  The  land  of  darkness  and  tears,  and  the 
gates  of  death  are  passed;  your  kindred  have  en- 
tered heaven.  Then  weep  no  more  till  you  too 
shall  go,  where  all  tears  are  wiped  away. 

III.    We  may  expect,  if  Cliristians,  TO  MEET  AND 

KNOW  OUR  PIOUS  KIXDRED,  IX  THE  LAND  BEYOND  THE 
GRAVE. 

\\  e  are  not  to  know  less  but  more  hereafter.     Now 


THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

we  know  in  part,  but  then  that  which  is  perfect  will 
have  come.  This  is  our  childhood,  that  shall  be  our 
maturer  life,  when  we  shall  have  put  away  childish 
things.  Now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  then 
face  to  face,  and  knowing  as  we  are  known.  Abraham, 
Dives,  and  Lazarus,  knew  each  other.  Moses  and 
Elias  are  Moses  and  Elias  still.  The  immortal  whom 
John  saw,  Rev.  xxii.  8,  9,  introduced  himself  as  a 
"fellow servant,"  and  "of  his  brethren  the  prophets;" 
and  the  Jews  are  to  see  and  know  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

It  cannot  be  that  the  saved  shall  not  know  each 
other  in  the  heavenly  land.  Such  an  arrangement 
would  detract  indescribably  from  the  bliss  of  that  final 
state.  A  stranger  in  heaven !  The  past  all  for- 
gotten !  Father,  mother,  wife,  children  and  other 
kindred  here,  but  I  can  never  know  them  !  I  promised 
to  meet  some  of  them  in  heaven — they  are  here,  I  am 
here,  I  may  have  met  them,  sung  with  them,  shouted 
with  them,  harped  with  them,  walked  the  streets  of  the 
city  and  the  sea  of  glass  with  them,  bowed  before  the 
everlasting  throne  with  them,  but  I  do  not,  cannot 
know  them !  Earth  was  the  grave  of  friendship — I  can 
greet  those  I  knew  and  loved  on  earth  no  more  for- 
ever !  Ah  no,  heart-stricken  mourner !  No  such 
soliloquy  will  ever  be  heard  beyond  the  grave.  Heaven 
is  a  land  of  purest  social  bliss,  peopled  with  bright 
circles  of  deathless  friends.  We  shall  know  each  other 
in  heaven! 

Yes  !  ob,  yes!  in  that  land,  that  happy  land, 
They  that  meet  shall  know  each  other, 
Far  beyond  the  rolling  river, 
Meet  to  sing  and  love  forever, 

In  that  happy  land. 


CONSOLATION    FOR   THE    BEREFT.  359 

How  joyful  the  thought  of  such  a  meeting  !  How 
blissful  the  prospect  of  such  a  heaven !  How  fondly 
we  dwell  upon  the  tender  theme  of  re-union  with  "the 
loved  and  lost"  in  the  regions  of  eternal  life!  We 
stand  and  gaze  across  the  river  of  death,  we  believe 
and  hope,  and  yet  we  love  to  repeat  the  fond  interro- 
gatory— "  Shall  I  know  my  kindred  in  heaven  ?" 

When  we  hear  the  music  ringing, 

Thro'  the  bright,  celestial  dome, 
When  sweet  angel  voices  singing, 

Gladly  bid  us  welcome  home, 
To  the  land  of  ancient  story, 

Where  the  spirit  knows  no  care, 
In  the  land  of  light  and  glory, 

Shall  v>e  know  each  other  there  f 

When  the  holy  angels  meet  us, 

As  we  go  to  join  their  band, 
Shall  we  know  the  friends  that  greet  us 

In  the  glorious  spirit  land  f 
Shall  we  see  their  bright  eyes  shining 

On  us,  as  in  days  of  yore  ? 
Shall  we  feel  their  dear  arms  twining, 

Fondly  round  us  as  before  ? 

Yes  !  my  earth-worn  soul  rejoices, 

And  my  weary  heart  grows  light, 
For  the  thrilling  angel  voices, 

And  the  angel  faces  bright, 
That  shall  welcome  me  in  heaven, 

Are  the  loved  of  long  ago, 
And  to  them  'tis  kindly  given, 

Thus  their"  mortal  friends  to  know. 

Oh !  ye  weary  ones  and  sad  ones, 

Droop  not,  faint  not  by  the  way  ! 
Ye  shall  join  the  loved  and  lost  ones, 

In  the  land  of  perfect  day  ! 
Harp-strings  touched  by  angel  fingers, 

Murmur  in  my  raptured  ear, 
Ever  more  their  sweet  tones  linger, 
We  shall  knoic  each  other  there  ! 


360  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

Thus  does  the  hope  of  another  life  after  death  be- 
come a  solace  to  the  wounded  and  bereft  spirit,  a 
balm  for  the  aching  and  bleeding  heart.  Oh  may  all 
that  weep  on  earth  lay  hold  of  its  divine  consolations, 
and  weep  no  more  ! 


THE    GOOD    MAN'S    PROSPECTS.  361 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

GLORIOUS    PROSPECTS    BEFORE    THE    DYING  CHRISTIAN. 

Weep  not,  my  Redeemer  lives  ; 

Heavenward  springing  from  the  dust, 
Clear-eyed  Hope  her  comfort  gives ; 

Faith,  Heaven's  champion,  bids  us  trust ; 
Love  eternal  whispers  nigh, 

"  Child  of  God,  fear  not  to  die  .'" 

IN  view  of  the  doctrine  of  the  soul's  immortality, 
how  bright  and  glorious  the  prospect  before  the  dying 
believer. 

0  glorious  hope  of  immortality ! 
At  thought  of  thee,  the  coffin,  and  the  tomb, 
Affright  no  more  ;  and  even  the  monster  Death 
Loses  his  fearful  form  and  seems  a  friend. 

Death  to  the  good  man  is  but  the  dawning  of  an 
eternal  day.  Not  till  then  does  he  enter  upon  a  life 
unclogged  by  corruption.  He  ascends  to  be  with 
Christ,  which  is  far  better.  Then  farewell  earth — 
farewell  toil  and  pain  and  tears  and  death !  He 
goes  to  join  the  immortal  company  of  heaven,  who 
sing  and  shine  in  the  presence  of  God  forever. 

And  though  the  hills  of  death 

May  hide  the  bright  array, 
The  marshalled  brotherhood  of  souls 

Still  keeps  its  upward  way  ; 


362  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL. 

Upward  !  forever  upward  ! 

I  see  their  march  sublime, 
And  hear  the  glorious  music 

Of  the  conquerors  of  time. 

No  doubts,  no  darkness,  no  fear !  The  two-leaved 
gates  of  eternity  are  gently  opening  before  him, 
and  the  light  of  that  brighter  world  is  pouring  forth 
upon  the  scene  of  his  departure.  Hark  !  He  sings ! 

— What  is  this  absorbs  me  quite, — 
Steals  my  senses,  shuts  my  sight, — 
Drowns  my  spirit,  draws  my  breath  ? 
Tell  me,  my  soul,  can  this  be  death  ? 

The  world  recedes :  it  disappears ; 
,  Heaven  opens  on  my  eyes ;  my  ears 

With  sounds  seraphic  ring. 
Lend,  lend  your  wings  !  I  mount !  I  fly  ! 
0  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ? 
0  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ? 

See  the  dying  Mozart,  as  he  stands  by  the  river 
of  death,  looks  back  upon  the  toils  of  the  past,  and 
forward  to  the  joys  of  the  immortal  future.  How 
appropriate  the  language  of  his  "cygnean  "  song,  the 
last  he  heard  on  earth.* 

*  Wolfgang  Mozart,  the  great  German  composer,  died  at  Vienna  in  the 
year  1791.  There  is  something  strikingly  beautiful  and  touching  in 
the  circumstances  of  his  death.  His  sweetest  song  was  the  last  he  sung 
— the  Requiem.  He  had  been  employed  upon  this  exquisite  piece  for 
several  weeks,  his  soul  filled  with  inspirations  of  richest  melody,  and 
already  claiming  kindred  with  immortality.  After  giving  it  its  last 
touch,  and  breathing  into  it  that  undying  spirit  of  song  which  was  to 
consecrate  it  through  all  time,  as  his  "cygnean  strain,"  he  fell  into  a 
gentle  and  quiet  slumber.  At  length  the  light  footsteps  of  his 
daughter  Emilie  awoke  him.  "  Come  hither,"  said  he,  "  my  Emilie — 
my  task  is  done — the  Requiem — my  Requiem  is  finished."  "  Say  not 
so,  clear  father,"  said  the  gentle  girl,  interrupting  him  ;i>  (cms  .-.toml  in 
her  eyes.  "  You  must  be  better — you  look  better,  («r  even  now  your 


THE    GOOD    MAX'S    PROSPECTS.  363 

Spirit !  thy  labor  is  o'er  ! 
Thy  term  of  probation  is  run. 
Thy  steps  are  now  bound  for  the  untrodden  shore, 
And  the  race  of  immortals  begun. 

Spirit !  look  not  on  tBe  strife. 
Or  the  pleasures  of  earth  with  regret — 
Pause  not  on  the  threshold  of  limitless  life 
To  mourn  for  the  thing  that  is  set. 

Spirit  !  no  fetters  can  bind, 
No  wicked  have  power  to  molest : 
There  the  weary,  like  thee — the  wretched  shall  find 
A  haven,  a  mansion  of  rest. 

Spirit !  how  bright  is  the  road 
For  which  thou  art  now  on  the  wing. 
Thy  home  it  will  be,  with  thy  Saviour  and  God, 
Their  loud  hallelujah  t 

In  that  better  land  "there  shall  be  no  more  death, 
neither  sorrow  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any 
more  pain,  for  the  former  things  are  passed  away." 
There  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and  there  the 
weary  are  forever  at  rest.  There  the  Lamb  that  is  in 

cheek  has  a  glow  upon  it.  I  am  sure  we  will  nurse  you  well  again. 
Let  me  bring  you  something  refreshing.''  "  Do  not  deceive  yourself, 
my  love."  said  the  dying  father. '•  this  wasted  form  can  never  be  re- 

by  human  aid.  From  Heaven's  mercy  alone  do  I  look  for  aid, 
in  this  my  dying  hour.  You  spoke  of  refreshment,  my  Emilie — take 
these  my  last  notes — sit  down  to  my  piano  here— sing  with  them  the 
hymn  of  your  sainted  mother — let  me  once  more  hear  those  tones  which 
have  been  so  long  my  solacement  and  delight."  Emilie  obeyed,  and 
with  a  voice  enriched  with  teii'lerest  euiotk.ii.  sang  the  following 
stanzas  : 

Spirit!  thy  lnlw.i 
as  cited  above. 

-he  concluded,  she  dwelt  for  a  moment  upon  the  low  melancholy 
notes  of  the  piece,  and  then  turning  from  the  instrument  looked  in 
silence  for  the  approving  smile  of  her  father.  It  was  the  still  passion- 
loss  smile  which  the  rapt  anil  it  li-R — with  the  seal  of  death 
upon  those  featuv- 


364  THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE   SOUL. 

the  midst  of  the  throne  shall  lead  us  to  fountains  of 
living  waters,  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from 
our  eyes. 

No  tear  shall  be  in  heaven,  no  gathering  gloom, 
Shall  o'er  that  glorious  landscape  ever  come, 
No  tears  shall  fall,  in  sadness  o'er  those  flowers, 
That  breathe  their  fragrance  through  celestial  bowers. 

No  tear  shall  be  in  heaven,  no  sorrows  reign, 
No  secret  anguish,  no  corporeal  pain  ; 
No  shivering  limbs,  no  burning  fever  there, 
No  soul's  eclipse,  no  winter  of  despair. 

No  night  shall  be  in  heaven,  but  endless  noon, 
No  fast  declining  sun,  nor  waning  moon, 
But  there  the  Lamb  shall  yield  perpetual  light, 
'Mid  pastures  green,  and  waters  ever  bright. 

No  tear  shall  be  in  heaven,  no  darkened  room, 
No  bed  of  death,  or  silence  of  the  tomb ; 
But  breezes  ever  fresh  with  love  and  truth, 
Shall  brace  the  frame  with  an  immortal  youth. 

In  view  of  such  a  consummation,  of  what  account 
are  our  momentary  earthly  sufferings,  trials,  disap- 
pointments, or  persecution  ?  Are  they  worthy  to  he 
compared  with  the  glory  to  be  revealed  ?  Should  we 
not  rather  bless  God  for  every  pang  we  feel,  knowing 
that  our  light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment, 
worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory  ? 

Then,  oh  my  soul,  despond  no  more, 
The  storm  of  life  will  soon  be  o'er, 
And  I  shall  find  the  peaceful  shore 

Of  everlasting  rest. 
0  happy  day  !     Oh  joyful  hour, 
When  freed  from  earth  my  soul  shall  tower, 
Beyond  the  reach  of  Satan's  power, 

To  be  forever  ble-t. 


THK    GOOD    MAX'S    PROSPECTS.  365 

Well  might  the  dying  Mrs.  Osgood  write,  with  her 
feet  almost  upon  the  eternal  shore, 

I'm  goiuj;  through  the  eternal  gates, 

Ere  June's  sweet  roses  blow; 
Death's  lovely  anj^l  loads  me  there. 

And  it  is  sweet  to  go. 

Beloved  reader !  Does  your  bosom  glow  with  this 
glorious  hope  of  joys  immortal  beyond  the  grave? 
If  so,  let  us  rejoice  together. 

Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who,  according  to  his  abundant  mercy,  hath 
begotten  us  again  unto  a  lively  hope  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  to  an  inheritance 
incorruptible,  and  nndefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not 
away.  May  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor 
principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor 
things  to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other 
creature,  ever  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  May  this  "  good  hope 
through  grace,"  be  our  solace  and  strength  through 
life,  our  support  and  consolation  in  death,  and  only 
cease  to  shine  and  glow  within  us,  when  mortality  is 
swallowed  up  of  life ! 

I  said,  "let  us  rejoice  together."  And  yet  the 
lines  I  now  write  will  be  read  by  some,  when  the 
hand  that  writes  them  has  crumbled  back  to  dust. 
But  even  then  let  us  rejoice  together: 

One  army  of  the  living  God, 

To  his  command  we  bow  ; 
Part  of  his  host  htvve  crossed  the  flood. 

And  part  are  crossing  now. 

From  beyond  the  stars  we  may  exclaim,  Rejoice 


360'  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

0  earth !  Cry  out  and  shout  ye  inhabitants  of  Zion  ! 
ye  heirs  of  glory  on  the  way  to  these  heavenly  man- 
sions !  While  from  earth  you  may  respond,  Sing  on  ! 
ye  heavenly  hosts,  sing  on  !  By  faith  we  hear  your 
melodies — we  see  your  shining  robes  and  sparkling 
crowns — we  are  treading  the  narrow  way  you  trod — 
we  have  an  earnest  of  our  future  inheritance, — we 
are  fighting  the  good  fight  of  faith,  arid  expect  to 
overcome  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  to  meet  you 
ere  long  in  heaven !" 

There  all  the  ship's  company  meet, 

Who  sailed  with  the  Master  beneath  ; 
With  shouting  each  other  they  greet, 

And  triumph  o'er  sorrow  and  death, 
The  voyage  of  life's  at  an  end, 

The  mortal  affliction  is  past ; 
The  age  that  in  heaven  they  spend, 

Forever  and  ever  shall  last. 

Cold  and  heat,  hunger  and  thirst,  weariness,  sick- 
ness, pain,  and  death — all  these  are  forever  past. 

The  mourner  is  blessed  by  his  Saviour  and  God, 
The  parted  rejoin  in  that  blest  abode  ; 
'Tis  a  mansion  of  beauty  and  glory  and  light, 
And  the  angels  are  there  in  their  robes  of  white : 
Its  walls  are  of  onyx-stone,  jasper  and  gold, 
But  the  half  of  its  beauty  can  never  be  told — 
Our  friends  wait  us  there,  and  they  beckon  away, 
We  hasten  to  join  them  in  endless  day. 

But  it  will  not  be  the  everlasting  rest — the  robes 
and  palms, — the  harps  and  streets  of  gold — the  river 
and  trees  of  life — the  society  of  the  angels ;  the  meet- 
ing again  with  those  who  have  gone  before,  that  will 
constitute  the  bliss  of  heaven. 


THE    GOOD    MAN'S    PROSPECTS.  367 

Xut  all  the  harps  above. 

Can  make  a  heavenly  place, 
If  God  his  residence  remove, 

Or  but  conceal  his  face. 


To  THEE  and  THEE  alone, 

The  angels  owe  their  bliss  ; 
They  sit  around  the  glorious  throne 

And  dwell  where  JESCS  is. 

Well  might  a  devout  servant  of  God  declare  that 
he  expected  to  gaze  a  thousand  years  upon  him  who 
bought  him  with  his  own  blood,  before  he  could 
notice  any  merely  earthly  friend  or  relative,  how- 
ever dear.  Pure  and  holy  and  bright  and  enduring 
as  are  the  heavenly  mansions,  they  would  be  all 
clouds  and  darkness  and  gloom  without  the  light 
of  the  Lamb. 

When  on  my  new-fledged  wings  I  rise, 
To  tread  those  shores  beyond  the  skies, 
What  object  first  shall  strike  my  eyes? 
And  where  shall  I  begin  my  joys  ? 
I'll  run  through  every  golden  street, 
And  ask  each  blissful  soul  I  meet, 
Where  is  the  God  whose  praise  ye  sing  ? 
Oh  lead  a  stranger  to  your  King  ! 

But  these  pages  may  be  read  by  some  of  the 
friends  of  our  youth  and  early  manhood, — fellow- 
Christians  and  fellow-laborers  of  other  years, — who, 
like  the  writer  begin  to  mark  the  lengthening  shadows 
of  life's  declining  day,  and  are  looking  for  the  wel- 
come opening  of  the  eternal  gates. 

To  all  such,  who  may  look  upon  the  memorial  of 
our  former  earthly  being,  fronting  the  title  page, 
when  we  are  gone,  or  drop  a  tear  over  the  spot  where 


368  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    60UL. 

our  ashes  rest — to  all  such,  kindred  in  the  flesh,  and 
beloved  brethren  in  Christ,  we  would  say, 

The  soul  that  thou  hast  loved 

Will  not  be  there, 
It  will  have  plumed  its  wings, 

And  soared  afar. 
Then  weep  not  o'er  my  change, 

When  I  am  free — 
When  I've  left  my  cell  and  gained 

My  liberty. 

Afar  in  yonder  sky, 

I'll  find  my  home, 
And  wait  in  realms  of  light 

For  thee  to  come. 
Call  me  not  back  to  earth, 

To  leave  my  crown, 
I  have  fought  through  sin  and  death, 

My  victory's  won. 

Excuse,  indulgent  reader,  these  frank  and  unaf- 
fected disclosures  of  our  personal  hopes  and  prospects. 
They  are  the  spontaneous  outgushings  of  a  heart  still 
youthful  and  fresh  in  its  friendships  and  Christian 
affections — a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  thousands  of 
cherished  earthly  friends,  scattered  here  and  there 
over  the  fields  of  our  itinerant  labor,  but  whom  we 
shall  meet  no  more  on  earth.  May  we  all  meet  in 
peace  beyond  the  grave  ! 

But  of  the  prospect  that  opens  before  the  good  man 
in  the  hour  of  death, — 

Who  can  i  aint  the  scenes  of  glory 
Where  the  ransomed  dwell  on  high  ? 

Eye  hath  not  seen,  ear  hath  not  heard,  neither 
hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  fully  to  con- 
ceive of  the  glory  that  awaits  the  Christian  beyond 
the  vale  of  death. 


THE    GOOD    MAX'S    PROSPECTS.  369 

No  sickness  there, 
No  weary  wasting  of  the  frame  away, 

No  fearful  shrinking  from  the  midnight  air, 
No  dread  of  summer's  bright  and  fervid  ray. 

No  hidden  grief, 
No  wild  and  cheerless  visions  of  despair, 

No  vain  petition  for  a  swift  relief, 
No  tearful  eye,  no  broken  hearts  are  there. 

Care  has  no  home 
Within  that  realm  of  ceaseless  praise  and  song: 

Its  tossing  billows  break  and  melt  in  foam, 
Far  from  the  mansions  of  the  spirit  throng. 

The  storm's  black  wing 
Is  never  spread  athwart  celestial  skies : 

Its  wailings  blend  not  with  the  voice  of  spring, 
As  gome  poor  tender  floweret  fades  and  dies. 

No  night  distils 
Its  chilling  dews  upon  the  tender  frame : 

No  morn  is  needed  there !  the  light  which  fills 
That  land  of  glory,  from  its  Maker  came. 

No  parting  friends 

O'er  mournful  recollections  have  to  weep : 

No  bed  of  death  enduring  love  attends 

To  watch  the  coming  of  a  pulseless  sleep. 

No  blasted  flowers, 
Or  withered  bud  celestial  gardens  know: 

No  scorching  blast,  or  fierce  descending  shower, 
Scatters  destruction  like  a  ruthless  foe. 

No  battle  word 
Alarms  the  sacred  host  with  fear  and  dread: 

The  song  of  peace  creation's  morning  heard, 
Is  sung  wherever  angel  footsteps  tread. 

Let  us  depart, 
If  home  like  this  await  the  weary  soul : 

Look  up  thou  stricken  one  !  thy  wounded  heart 
Shall  bleed  no  more  at  sorrow's  stern  control. 
24 


<j70  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL. 

With  faith  our  guide, 
Whitivrobod  and  innocent,  to  tread  the  way, 

Why  fear  to  plunge  in  Jm-dan "s  rolling  tide. 
And  find  the  haven  of  eternal  day  ''. 

Such  is  the  prospect  opened  before  the  Christian  as 
he  passes  the  gates  of  death.  No  wonder  he  often 
shouts.  No  wonder  he  cries,  "  Victory  !  Victory  ! 
through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  !" 

Why  should  I  shrink  at  pain  or  woe? 

Or  feel,  at  death,  dismay  ? 
I've  Canaan's  goodly  land  in  view, 

And  realms  of  endless  day. 

Then  welcome  Death  !  welcome  the  tomb  and  the 
bright  world  beyond  !  Welcome  ye  angels  immor- 
tal! Welcome  ye  blissful  hosts,  once  of  earth,  and 
heirs  of  sorrow  pain  and  death,  but  now  forever 
free  !  Welcome  my  long-lost  kindred  who  await  my 
coming ! 

Welcome,  thrice  welcome,  thou  gates  of  day ! 
thou  city  of  my  God  !  All  hail  Immortality  !  All 
hail,  ETERNAL  LIFE  ! ! 

Forever  with  the  Lord  ! 

Amen,  so  let  it  be  ! 
Life  from  the  dead  is  in  that  word, 

'Tis  immortality. 

Here  in  the  body  pent, 

Absent  from  him  I  roam  ; 
Yet  nightly  pitch  my  moving  tent 

A  day's  nuirch  nearer  home. 

Forever  with  the  Lord  ! 

Fathe*,  if 'tis  thy  will, 
The  promise  of  that  faithful  word, 

E'en  here  to  me  fulfil. 


THE    GOOD    MAN'S    PROSPECTS.  371 

So,  when  my  latest  breath 

Shall  rend  the  veil  in  twain, 
By  death  1  shall  (.'.-cape  from  ileath, 

And  life  eternal  gain. 

Knowing  as  I  aui  known, 

How  shall  I  love  that  word, 
And  oft  repeat  before  the  throne, 

i'orover  witli  the  Lord  ! 


THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

CLOSING    APPEAL   TO    THE    UNCONVERTED. 

'Tis  not  the  whole  of  life  to  live, 
Nor  all  of  death  to  die. 

AND  now  dear  reader,  our  work  draws  to  a  close. 
A  few  more  pages  and  our  communion  with  you  may 
end  forever.  To  what  additional  theme  ought  those 
pages  to  be  devoted  ?  If  you  are  to  exist  forever  in 
another  world — if  the  life  that  now  is,  is  to  determine 
our  allotment  in  the  world  to  come,  and,  especially  if 
you  -are  not  a  Christian,  and  have  no  good  hope 
through  grace  of  everlasting  life  in  heaven,  what 
ought  I  to  say  to  you  in  closing  the  discussion  of  the 
momentous  theme  of  the  soul's  immortality  ?  Will 
you  not  expect  an  appeal  in  behalf  of  that  undyi-ng 
spirit  whose  endless  interests  you  have  so  long  ne- 
glected ?  And  will  you  not  listen  as  a  candidate  for 
immortality,  whose  days  are  so  soon  to  be  accom- 
plished as  the  days  of  an  hireling  ? 

I.  Have  you  a  doubt  in  your  own  mind  that  your  soul 
its  immortal,  and  that  you  are  to  live  in  joy  or  woe  for- 
ever f 

Is  not  this  doctrine  clearly  revealed  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  corroborated  by  all  the  facts  and 
phenomena  of  reason  and  nature  ?  Have  you  the 
remotest  idea  that  when  you  die  that  is  to  be  your 


CLOSING    APPEAL.  373 

end?  You  shudder  at  the  thought.  Every  power 
and  susceptibility  of  your  undying  nature  cries  out 
against  the  idea.  You  shrink  back  from  the  contem- 
plation of  the  cold,  dark,  cheerless  abyss  of  non-ex- 
istence. You  cannot,  you  tvould  not  shake  off  the 
conviction  that  that  which  thinks  and  knows  and 
hopes  and  fears  within  you  shall  always  exist. 

The  sun  is  >>ut  a  spark  of  fire, 

A  transient  meteor  of  the  sky  : 
The  soul,  immortal  as  its  sire, 
Shall  never  die  ! 

Whatever  else,  then,  you  may  for  the  present  be- 
lieve or  reject,  let  this  great  truth  sink  deep  into  your 
heart — I  am  to  exist  eternally  !  Believe  it,  ponder 
it,  cherish  it,  till  it  shall  permeate  the  whole  soul  and 
spirit,  chasten  your  aspirations  and  relishes  and  hopes 
and  mould  your  purposes  for  a  life  befitting  your  im- 
mortal destination. 

II.  /  beseech  you  to  ponder  the  character  of  your 
past  life. 

Are  you  not  a  sinner  in  the  sight  of  God?  Have 
you  not  often  and  long  trampled  upon  his  holy  law, 
and  done  despite  to  the  Spirit  of  grace  ?  If  they  are 
cursed  who  continue  not  in  all  things  written  in  the 
book  of  the  law  to  do  them,  are  you  not  under  this 
curse  ?  and  does  not  the  wrath  of  God  abide  upon 
you  ?  Oh  be  candid  and  impartial  with  your  own  soul. 
You  are  alone  with  God,  oh  think  as  for  eternity  ! 

'Tis  greatly  wise  to  talk  with  our  past  hours, 
And  ask  them  what  report  they  bore  to  heaven. 

Oh  may  the  blessed  Spirit  of  God  seal  upon  the 


374  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

conscience  afresh  a  sense  of  the  guilt  and 
of  sin,  and  of  your  need  of  pardon  and  reconcilia- 
tion to  God,  before  you  go  hence  and  are  here  no 
more! 

III.  Remember  the  relation  of  the  present  life  to  the 
interminable  future,  as  the  seed-time  of  an  immortal 
harvest. 

As  we  sow  here  so  shall  we  reap  hereafter.  Be- 
yond this  fleeting  life  there  is  prepared  for  the 
righteous  a  crown  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away. 
There  is  a  heaven,  a  glorious  heaven  beyond  the 
stars. 

"And  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  anything 
that  defileth,  neither  whatsoever  worketh  abomina- 
tion, or  maketh  a  lie;  but  they  which  are  written  in 
the  Lamb's  book  of  life."  Rev.  xxi.  27. 

"And  there  shall  be  no  more  curse:  but  the  throne 
of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  shall  be  in  it;  and  his 
servants  shall  serve  him:  and  they  shall  see  his  face; 
and  his  name  shall  be  in  their  foreheads.  And  there 
shall  be  no  night  there;  and  they  need  no  candle, 
neither  light  of  the  sun;  for  the  Lord  God  giveth 
them  light:  and  they  shall  reign  forever  and  ever." 
Rev.  xxii.  3-5. 

"Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  commandments,  that 
they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may 
enter  in  through  the  gates  into  the  city."  Rev. 
xxii.  15. 

Yes,  blessed  be  the  Lord, 

Beyond  this  vale  of  tears, 

There  is  a  life  above, 
Unmeasured  by  the  flight  of  years; 

And  all  that  life  is  love. 


IXC     APPEAL.  375 

Be  assured  also,  that  a  miserable  eternity  awaits 
the  unforgiven  and  unsanctified. 

There  is  ;i  'loath  whose  pang, 

Outlast?  the  fleeting  breath  : 
Oh  what  eternal  horrors  hang. 

Around  the  second  death  ! 

The  redeemed  and  blood-washed  shall  "see  life" 
and  enter  heaven. 

"  Bnt  the  fearful,  and  unbelieving,  and  the 
abominable,  and  murderers,  and  whoremongers,  and 
sorcerers,  and  idolaters,  and  all  liars,  shall  have 
their  part  in  the  lake  which  burneth  with  fire 
and  brimstone:  which  is  the  second  death."  Rev. 
xxi.  8. 

"  For  without  are  dogs,  and  sorcerers,  and  whore- 
mongers, and  murderers,  and  idolaters,  and  whoso- 
ever loveth  and  maketh  a  lie."  Rev.  xxii.  15. 
"And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punish- 
ment: but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal."  Matt. 
xxv.  4(5.  . 

Oh  do  not  be  beguiled  by  the  syren  song  of  "no 
hell  beyond  the  grave,"  to  steer  on  without  pardon 
or  hope,  till  you  are  forever  wrecked  amid  the  dark 
rocks  of  error  and  the  breakers  of  death!  Trust  not 
your  endless  destiny  to  a  speculation  that  has  no 
countenance  in  the  word  of  God,  and  has  failed  its 
thousands  when  they  most  needed  the  girdings  of 
truth  and  hope,  and  when  it  was  too  late  to  build  on 
the  Rock  of  Ages. 

IV.  Remember  that  your  only  hope  is  in  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Saviour  of  lost  moult. 


376  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

Talk  they  of  morals  ?     0  thou  bleeding  Love, 
Thou  Maker  of  new  morals  to  mankind ! 
The  grand  morality  is  love  to  Thee. 

"Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is 
laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ."  "We  are  all  as  an  un- 
clean thing,  and  all  our  righteousness  as  filthy  rags." 
We  are  only  forgiven  "through  the  redemption  that 
is  in  Christ  Jesus,"  and  "washed  from  our  sins  in  his 
Wood."  There  is  "no  other  name  given  under 
heaven,  or  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 
"Not  by  works  of  righteousness  which  we  have  done, 
but  according  to  his  mercy  he  saveth  us,  by  the 
washing  of  regeneration,  and  the  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost." 

V.  Remember,  also,  that  salvation  from  sin  is  through 
faith  in  the  blood  of  Christ. 

"  He  that  believethand  is  baptized  shall  be  saved." 
"He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life." 
For  "as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilder- 
ness, even  so  was  the  Son  of  man  lifted  up,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life."  He  only  becomes  our  per- 
sonal propitiation  "through  faith  in  his  blood;"  for 
"with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness; 
and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salva- 
tion." 

VI.  Do  not  be  deluded  by  the  idea  that  because  you 
cannot  merit  heaven,  or  wash  away  the  guilt  of  sin,  by 
a  righteous  life,  that,  therefore,  you  have  nothing  to  do 
that  you  may  be  saved. 

We  are  workers  together  with  God.  Though 
salvation  is  of  grace,  still  in  an  infinitely  important 
sense  is  it  true  that, 


CLOSING    APPEAL.  377 

We  shape  ourselves  the  joy  or  woe, 

Of  which  the  coming  life  is  made, 
And  fill  our  future  hemisphere, 

With  sunshine  or  with  shade. 

God  has  made  us  free,  and  has  set  life  and  death 
before  us.  Christ  has  died  for  us,  the  just  for  the 
unjust  that  he  might  hring  us  to  God,  and  it  is  for  us 
to  believe  on  him  and  live,  or  reject  him  and  perish. 

Ages  pass  away. 

Thrones  fall,  and  nations  disappear,  and  worlds 
Grow  old  and  go  to  wreck ;  the  soul  alone 
Endures,  and  what  she  chooseth  for  herself, 
The  arbiter  of  her  own  destiny, 
That  only  shall  be  permanent. 

God  has  done  all  on  his  part  that  is  necessary  for 
your  salvation,  at  least  till  you  turn  penitently  to 
him:  it  now  remains  for  you  to  settle  your  endless 
destiny.  If  you  will  you  may  he  saved  !  You  yet 
live,  and, 

Life  is  the  hour  that  God  has  given 
T'  escape  from  hell  and  fly  to  heaven  ; 
The  day  of  grace — and  mortals  may 
Secure  the  blessings  of  the  d; 

VII.  Finally,  brother  immortal,  candidate  for 
heaven  or  hell,  purchase  of  a  Redeemer's  blood,  let 
me  entreat  you  to  act  at  once,  and  neglect  no  longer 
the  great  salvation  ! 

Are  you  young  ?  So  much  the  more  hope  in  your 
case  if  you  now  turn  to  God.  Have  you  spent  much 
of  your  short  life  in  sin  already  ?  So  much  the 
greater  need  of  immediate  action.  Time  is  flying ; 
life  is  speeding  away;  we  travel  enchanted  ground; 
and  death  and  hell  pursue !  "  Behold  now  is  the 
accepted  time;  behold  now  is  the  day  of  salvation." 


378  THE    IMMORTALITY    OP    THE    SOUL. 

While  God  invites,  how  blest  the  day  ! 

How  sweet  the  gospel's  charming  sound  ! 
Come,  sinner,  haste,  oh  haste  away, 

While  yet  a  pardoning  God  is  found. 

A   little   longer   and  it  may  be  forever  too   late ! 
Why,  then  delay? 

Hasten,  sinner,  to  return  ! 

Stay  not  for  the  morrow's  sun, 
Lest  thy  lamp  should  fail  to  burn, 

KIT  salvation's  work  is  done. 


PRAYER. 

OGOD  of  infinite  mercies  !  Look  thou  upon 
these  pages  with  favor  and  compassion. 
Pardon  their  many  errors  and  imperfections. 
Attend  them  with  thy  blessing,  and  shed  thou 
upon  the  mind  and  heart  of  all  who  shall  read 
them  the  light  and  precious  guidance  of  thy  Holy 
Spirit.  May  they  be  instrumental  in  thy  hands 
in  convincing  the  unbeliever  of  his  immortal 
destination.  May  they  strengthen  the  faith, 
brighten  the  prospects,  and  increase  the  joys 
of  thy  people.  May  they  tend  to  bind  the 
hearts  of  all  who  read  them,  to  thy  precious 
word,  and  to  the  cross  of  Christ.  May  they 
alleviate  the  sorrows  of  the  bereft  and  broken- 
hearted ;  impress  the  soul  of  the  reader  with  a 
deeper  sense  of  the  brevity  and  importance  of 
this  mortal  life,  the  vanity  of  all  things  earthly, 
and  the  inestimable  value  of  things  spiritual 


CLOSING    APPEAL.  379 

and  eternal.  Above  all,  O  Lord,  we  humbly 
beseech  thee,  so  to  follow  with  thy  blessing 
this  humble  volume,  wherever  it  may  go,  and 
by  whomsoever  it  may  be  read,  that  as  thy 
servant  was  brought  to  repentance  and  faith  in 
thee  through  the  instrumentality  of  a  book,* 
so  this  book  may  be  the  means  in  thy  hands  of 
winning  souls  to  Christ,  who  shall  shine  as  the 
stars  forever  and  ever. 

Bless  especially,  we  beseech  thee,  the  un- 
converted reader  as  he  may  close  this  volume, 
and  be  about  to  turn  his  thoughts  to  other 
themes  and  pursuits.  May  he  be  persuaded  by 
the  brevity  and  uncertainty  of  life,  the  everlast- 
ing years  before  him  after  death,  the  joys  of 
heaven,  the  pains  of  hell,  the  voice  of  con- 
science, the  blood  of  Christ,  and  the  strivings 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  GIVE  THEE  HIS  HEART! 
And  to  Thy  name  shall  be  the  everlasting 
praise ! 


And  now  unto  the  ever  blessed  and  adorable 
TRINITY — the  FATHER,  SON,  and  HOLY  GHOST 
— one  God,  world  without  end — be  honor  and 


:;  The  writer  was  convinced  of  .-in  and  led  to  Christ,  in  December, 
1834,  through  the  instrumentality  of  ••  The  Course  of  Time,  a  poem  by 
ROBERT  POLLOK." 

Oh  happy  iluy  that  fixed  my  rh 
On  Thee  my  Saviour  and  my  God. 


380  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

power,  dominion    and   glory,  forever   and  ever. 

Amen. 

NOTE. — As  stated  in  the  Preface,  so  we  here  repeat,  that  it  is  the 
Author's  purpose,  should  life  and  health  permit,  to  prepare  a  similar 
volume  soon  upon  77«?  Rentrreetion  of  the.  Dead;  to  be  followed  by  one 
devoted  exclusively  to  The  Ifim-mfi/  Wm-lil,  and  another  upon  the 
subject  of  Future  Punishment.  Should  a  gracious  Providence  favor  this 
design,  it  is  hoped  that  the  entire  four  volumes  may  be  issued,  in  uni- 
form style,  as  early  as  January,  1867  at  latest. 


APPENDIX. 

THE  following  excellent  poems  are  so  pertinent  to 
the  subject  of  Immortality,  and  yet  so  seldom  to  be 
met  with,  that  we  insert  them  here  as  well  for  the 
edification  of  the  devout  reader,  as  to  prevent  their 
falling  into  oblivion. 

The  first  is  by  Mrs.  S.  K.  Furman,  but  we  are 
unable  to  give  the  author  of  the  second. 


THE  OLD  MAN  8  VALEDICTORY. 

Wayworn,  infirm,  and  old, 
Lo,  on  my  pilgrim's  trusty  staff  I  bow ; 
While  evening's  gathering  shadows,  damp  and  cold, 

Fall  on  my  heart  and  brow. 

The  winds  of  time  have  swept, 
Long  since,  my  youth  and  manhood's  prime  away  ; 
And  through  my  frame  a  withering  blight  has  crept — 

The  mildew  of  decay. 

Along  life's  backward  track 
Sweet  echoes  float  from  out  my  cottage  door  ; 
And  oft  in  solitude  I  wander  back 

To  seek  the  loved  once  more. 

381 


382  THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL. 

My  children,  fair  and  bright 
As  golden  sunbeams,  gathered  round  me  there  ; 
Again  I  view  the  mother's  fond  delight 

And  list  her  trusting  prayer. 

Blest  little  ones  that  came 
And  caroled  till  their  angel-plumes  were  given, 
Perched  in  our  hearts  and  lisped  the  parents'  names, 

Then  flew  away  to  heaven. 

And  long,  lone  years  have  flown 
Since  with  her  meek  hands  folded  on  her  breast, 
.My  gentle  wife,  o'er  weary,  laid  her  down 

Beside  her  babes  to  rest. 

0  then,  in  that  great  grief, 
God's  loving  chastenings  I  no  longer  spurned, 
But  sought  the  proffered  balm  of  sweet  relief 

For  which  my  spirit  yearned. 

Since  then  a  rugged  way 

Ofttimes  has  led  me  through  misfortune's  vale  ; 
Yet  His  sure  word  and  grace  have  been  my  stay, 

\Vhose  promises  ne'er  fail. 

Safe  through  the  wilderness, 
My  home  grows  nearer  in  the  realms  of  love  ; 
Soon  T  shall  join  the  sacred  strains  of  bliss 

Sung  by  the  blest  above. 

In  prayer  and  trust  I  wait 

On  life's  dim  threshold,  free  from  doubt  and  fears, 
Watching  the  opening  of  death's  mystic  gate 

To  tlif  eternal  years. 


APPENDIX.  383 

0  'twas  a  touching  sight  ! 
A  toil-worn  pilgrim  on  the  golden  strand, 
With  white  locks  waving  in  the  mellow  light 

Of  the  soft  Beulah  Land: 

That  gentle  interlude 
Of  second  childhood's  sweet  simplicity. 
A  spring  in  autumn,  tender  and  subdued, 

Telling  of  life  to  be  : 

Flushing  the  weary  heart 
With  loving  pictures  of  life's  early  bowers, 
Wreathing  the  spirit  ere  it  doth  depart 

With  sweet  immortal  flowers. 

When  came  the  Sabbath  day 
They  bore  him  in  with  slow  and  muffled  tread  ; 
In  hallowed  rest  before  the  altar  lay. 

White-robed,  the  sainted  dead. 

Earth's  sorrows  all  are  past; 
On  his  mute  lips  the  smile  of  joy  we  see, 
And  these  his  tender  words,  to  us  the  last. 

His  valedictory. 


IMMORTAL   LONGINGS. 

Christ,  let  me  come  to  thee  ! 
My  heart  is  weary,  and  I  long  for  rest ; 

Is  not  my  earthly  mission  well-nigh  done  ? 
I  cannot  bear  this  burden  on  my  breast — 

It  weighs  my  spirit  downward  like  a  stone. 


384  THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL. 

My  saddened  life  is  ever  vailed  in  clouds, 
And  midnight  darkness  hath  come  o'er  my  soul. 

My  once  bright  hopes  are  wrapped  away  in  shrouds, 
And  sorrow's  heavy  surges  round  me  roll. 
Sweet  Christ.  0  may  I  come? 

Christ,  let  me  come  to  thee  ! 
Life  hath  a  dark  Sahara  been  to  me ! 

The  few  bright  flowers  that  bloomed  along  my  way 
Were  soon  transplanted — each  beloved  tree 

To  bloom  perennial  in  the  "  perfect  day." 
My  dear  loved  ones  sit  round  thy  golden  throne, 

And  wait — a  broken  circle  till  I  come  ; 
Let  me  not  linger  here  on  earth  alone — 

0  let  me  join  them  in  their  heavenly  home  ! 

Sweet  Christ,  0  may  I  come  ? 
* 

Christ,  let  me  come  to  thee ! 
Behind  me  roars  the  angry  ocean  tide  ; 

Each  crested  wave  conies  nearer,  nearer  still  : 
The  muttering  thunders  in  the  billows  hide  ; 

1  shudder  at  their  hoarse,  loud  voice  so  chill ; 
I  cannot  meet  the  fierce,  wild  storm  of  life  ! 

I  have  no  strength  to  battle  with  it  more  ! 
Too  long  I've  wrestled  in  the  painful  strife  ; 
I  must  lay  down  the  burden  that  I  bore. 
Sweet  Christ,  0  may  I  come  ? 

Christ,  let  me  come  to  thee  ! 
In  dreams  I  hear  thy  white-robed  angels  sing 

The  golden  glories  of  their  beauteous  land  ; 
I  hear  the  rustle  of  each  snowy  wing, 

And  feel  their  touch  upon  my  fevered  hand. 


APPENDIX.  385 

Colder  than  ever  seems  the  earth  to  me. 

When  I  awake  and  see  them  flit  away  ; 
I  strain  my  eyes  the  last  bright  glimpse  to  see, 

And  watch  them  vanish  through  the  gates  of  day. 
Sweet  Christ,  O  may  I  come? 

Christ,  let  me  come  to  thee  ! 
I  watch  my  toiling  breath  grow  faint  and  slow  ; 

I  note  the  hectic  deepening  day  by  day, 
And  feel  my  life  is  like  a  wreath  of  snow, 

Which  one  kind  breath  of  heaven  would  melt  away. 
A  little  longer  in  this  world  of  vice — 

The  wished-for  boundary  is  almost  passed — 
I  see  the  shining  shore  of  Paradise, 

I  know  my  pain  is  almost  o'er  at  last. 
Sweet  Christ.  0  let  me  come  ! 

Christ,  let  me  come  to  thee  ! 
I've  seen  the  gates  that  guard  thy  holy  clime  ; 

And  often  caught  a  gleam  from  far  (within  ; ) 
I  know  they'll  open  in  thine  own  good  time, 

And  let  thy  weary,  wandering  child  come  in. 
I've  had.  all  through  this  weary  care  and  pain, 

One  blessed  hope,  that  ne'er  has  known  despair — 
It  cheers  me  like  the  sunshine  after  rain  ! 

I  know  thou'lt  hear  my  deep  and  heartfelt  prayer, 
And  let  me  come  to  thee  ! 

26 


INDEX  OF  SCRIPTURE  QUOTATIONS. 


CHAP. 

I.. 
II 

GENESIS. 

VERSE 

....  26,27  
1  

PAGE 

26 
38 
26 
121 
34,35 
42 
38 
124 
41 
50 
313 

n 

39 

44.  :>0 
50 

.;o 
23 

CHAP. 
II  

II    KINGS. 

VERSE 
11  

IV 
XIV 
XXXII 

XXXIV 

XXX  VI  11 

VI. 

JOB. 
..  18,19  
8  

It 

7  

it 

17  

tl 

m!! 

V.. 

....  18-24  
19  
3  

10  
22  
g 

H 

4  

XXV.. 

8  

18  

15 

XXXV  . 

18  

XLIL. 

....  21,22  
29  

8  

PSALMS. 
4  

XLVI.. 
XLIX.. 
L.. 

26  
33  
....       3-6  
10 

7  

Ill  

XVI... 

EXODUS. 
....       2-6  

NUMBERS. 
22  

VIII. 

XVI. 
XIX. 

..       5-8  
..     8-10  

7  

XXXI. 
XXXVII. 
LI 

10  
..     9,10  
5 

LXXXV1 
\c 

4  
j 

XXII.... 
E 

xxxin 

XXXIV 
XXVII. 

27  
EUTERONOMY. 

13  
....            5  

63 
131 

46 

287 
18 

a 

('IV. 

10  
1  

CVL 

f'XV. 

15  
..  17,  18  

CXXIX. 
CXXXIX. 

.     7-10  
13  

I  SAMUEL. 
1  

14... 

ECCLESIASTES. 
Ill          ..           it 

XII  

IV. 
VIIT.. 

II  SAMUEL. 
....  19-23  

I  KIXGS. 

33  
27  

tt 

.  18-20  
.  19-21  
21  

VII  

8  

15  

IX  

4-6  

XXVII. 

..  20-22  ... 

XII.... 

7.... 

PAGE 

63 


23 
39 
45 
23 
23 
76 
43 
28 


82 

133 

183 

114 

76 

133 

81 

8« 

76 

183 

46 

18 

76 

83 

IS 

39 

185 


136 
62 
44 
76 
43 

133 
S3 
28 


388 


INDEX    OX'    SCRIPTURE    QUOTATION. 


ECCLESIASTES. 
cntr.                   TERSE 
XII  7  

PARK 
43 

CHAP. 

XVI 

MARK. 

VERSK 

9 

PAG* 

20 

••    7  

78 

16 

126 

'•    7  

82 

it 

16 

878 

.. 

16  

142 

ISAIAH. 
XXXI..           3  

24 

LI  KE. 

XXXVIII     17  18 

S4 

I.  . 

17  

13."> 

LIV..           6  

376 

II.. 

29  

50 

LVIL.           1  

133 

VIII... 

.  2,26-32  

20 

IERE  \II\H 

X.. 

....  49-.")5  
19  

46 

20 

25 

140 

XXIII  24  

19 

XII.. 

I'.l  

76 

28  

139 

HOSEA. 

„ 

....  47,48  

138 

XIII  14  

105 

XIV.  . 

13.  14  

101 

ZECHARIAII. 

XVI.. 

19  

109 

XII                       1 

24 

....   19-39  

60 

XIV                        5 

70 

.. 

22  

65 

.. 

22  2(5 

111 

M  A  T  A  PITT 

« 

23  

139 

IV  1-3  

134 

XX.. 

...  27,37  

"  5,6  

136 

ft 

43 

112 

43  

11;; 

MATTHEW. 

(1 

46  

4.'. 

X  28  

t;i 

"  28  

76 

III 

3  

142 

XI  13,14  

135 

11 

6  

35 

.! 

6  

39 

VVTT                         % 

A? 

it 

13  

117 

.. 

14  

376 

w  T  r                 1' 

149 

.. 

16  

140 

IV 

24    

IS 

XXIII  14  

24  

XXIV  14-30  

V 

•Ml    

12(1 

XXV  10.  11  
in 

142 

XIV  

....       2,3  

102 

on 

l  f 

XX  .... 

17  

11(1 

81 

mi 

XXI  

....    IS.  19  

48 

41  

141 

411         

140 

40  

375 

11... 

24  
25  28         ... 

u 

86 

xxvi  :i;>  

XXVII    ....        M-">          

76 
316 

....  25-32  

118 

MARK. 

V  13  
VI  14  
IX                11  13 

•2\ 

;si3 

135 

IV.". 
V. 

....  27-31  
....  29-33  
34  
3-1  
12  
3  

116 
H 

11  R 
87fl 
75 

4r>  

276 

to  

in 

x  :;o  

140 

X... 

!(l  

229 

INDEX    (>F    SCRIPTURE    QUOTATIONS. 


389 


CHAP. 
XIII... 

XXIIT. 

ACTS. 

VERSE 

...  36.37  
6  

PACK 

86 
56 
55 
59 

77 
63 

11 

77 
77 

:;7fi 

376 
24 

7,'. 
71 
376 
132 

75 
24 
77 
376 
77 
77 
25 
75 
-7 
63 
107 
105 

18 

25 
118 

47 
47 
65 
77 
229 
25 
M) 

1  .",?. 

CHAP. 
I  

COLOSSIANP. 

VKRSS 

18  

PAQE 

63 

101 
98 
62 
65 
76 

50 
87 
102 

376 
49 

19 
133 
132 
76 
138 

n 

99 

37 

51 
76 

101 
102 

102 

48 
20 
76 
133 

101 

102 
291 

I 

I 
IV 

THKSSAT.oXl  \NS. 
7-10  

1  '.     17 

8  

„ 

8  
-.9  

XXVI 

II  

23  

ROMANS. 

....       8.9  
16  

V 

'.I.   Ill  
10  

.. 

23 

IV  

II   TIMOTHY. 
6  

.. 

29  

•'4 

25  

"  

6-8  
8  

VTTT 

1  fi 

16    

Ill 

Tirtrs, 

5 

23  

X     ... 

10  

XIV     .. 

15  

I... 

PHILEMON. 
21-24  

HEBREWS 
7  

I 
II  

CORINTHIAN-. 
.."..  10,  11  

11  

.. 

11  

Ill 

11 

v 

11  

VI 

II... 

14  

20 

VI... 

19  

.. 

20  

X... 

2S.  29  
39  

XV  . 

..  16  IS 

20  

XI... 

XII... 

39,40  
9  

., 

II 
III... 

....  53-57  
....  54,55  

CORTXTHIANS. 

17  

II  

JAMES. 
26  

V  

20  

IV    

16     

I  

IV  .... 

I  PETER. 

5,7,13  
13  

.. 

17  

V  

1-4  

....       6-9  
7  

VII 
XII  

1  
.  ..       2  -  t  
4  

V 

I  

4  

II  PETER. 
....      12-15  

11 

4  

y 

GALATTANS. 
15 

II  

4  

8  

Ill  

6  

VI 

15 

7  

III  

IV  ... 

EPHESIANS. 

15  
23.... 

39 

Ill  

I  JOHN. 

2  
2.... 

390 


INDEX    OF    SCRIPTURE    QUOTATIONS. 


JUDE. 

VERSE 


CHAP. 
VER 6 

"    14,15 


REVELATION. 

1 5 

« 5 

II 7 

VI 9 

VII 14-17 

XI 18 

XIV....  13 


PAGE 

20 
70 


63 
376 

59 
112 

69 
132 
355 


REVELATION. 

CHAP.  VERSE 

XVI 13 

XX 12 

••   12 

••   12-15 

-  14 

XXI 8 

"  27 

XXII 3-5 

"    8,9 

••    12 

"    15 

"    ..  15.... 


65 
138 
276 
118 
113 
375 
374 
374 
358 
276 
376 
375 


INDEX  OF  POETIC  QUOTATIONS. 


PAGE 

Achilles'  wrath,  to  Greece 169 

Ages  pass  away,  thrones  fall..  377 
Amidst  your  train  this  unseen.  311 
And  though  the  hills  of  death.  361 

Beyond  this  vale  of  tears 374 

Can  it  be  so?  matter  immortal.  237 
Child  of  the  sun.  pursue  thy..  335 
Christ,  let  me  come  to  thee!...  383 
Cold  in  the  dust  this  perished.  231 

Companion  dear,  the  hour 52 

Conscience,  the  torturer  of  the.  313 
Conscience  is  the  mirror  of  the.  307 
Could  you,  so  rich  in  rapture..  305 

Death  wounds  to  cure,  we 66 

Dreams  may  nut  picture  a 356 

Each  fainter  trace  that 276 

Earth's  disemboweled 288 

Every  tear  is  wiped  away 69 

For  there  is  no  sleep 62 

For  who  to  dumb  forgetfulness.  299 

Forever  with  the  Lord 370 

Guilt  only  makes  annihilation.  305 
Her  ceaseless  flight,  though....  224 
Hark!  the  Judgment  trumpet.  71 

Hasten,  sinner,  to  return 378 

He  passed,  through  glorious...  66 
Hope  springs  eternal  in  the...  302 

How  awful  in  the  hour 319 

Jl.'W  swift  thought  travels 283 

How  swift  is  a  glance  of  the...  283 

I  live,  move,  am  conscious 238 

I  see  a  world  of  spirits j  356 

I  shine  in  the  light  of  God....  356 
If,  then,  as  annihilate  by  sin..  254 
I'm  going  through  the  eternal.  365 

In  man.  the  more  we  dive 277 

In  Hanadu  did  Kubla-Khan...   224 

Is  Heaven  then  kinder  to 301 

It  must  be  so:  Plato,  thou 306 

Knt'Wi-st  thou  the  importance.  353 

Let  me  go,  why  should  1 303 

Life  is  real,  life  is  earnest 42 

Lite  :s  the  hour  that  God 377 


PAGE 

Life  makes  the  soul  dependent.  66 
Lo  !  from  the  dread  immensity.  160 
Lo !  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land.  346 
Lo,  the  poor  Indian,  whose  ...  176 

Look  on  that  glorious  face 192 

Look  Nature  through. 'tis  nice.  182 
Lulled  in  the  countless  charm.  272 

Man  ill  at  ease  in 301 

Man  is  not  all  of  earth 338 

Man's  misery  declares  him 301 

M».»t  wondrous  book 345 

My  days  uf  praise  shall  ne'er..  83 
Mysterious  Night!  when  our..  156 
Nature  all  o'er  is  consecrated.  346 
No  oppressive  heat  they  feel...  70 

No  room  for  mirth,  or 349 

No  sickness  there 369 

Nor  are  our  powers  to  perish..  293 
No  matter  which  my  thoughts.  351 

Not  all  the  harps  above 367 

No  tears  shall  be  in  heaven...  364 
0  change  !  0  wondrous  change.  237 
0  glorious  hope  of  immortality.  361 

0  listen,  man,  a  voice 342 

Of  systems  possible,  if  its 181 

0  happy  day  that  fixed  my....  379 

0  may  I  triumph  so 235 

Once  on  the  raging  seas  I  rode.  344 
One  army  of  the  living  God...  365 
One  family  we  dwell  in  him...  71 
0  thou  thrice  blessed  word  of.  345 
0  their  crowns  how  liright  .  ..  357 

Our  buried  friends  can  we 324 

Our  life  as  a  dream,  our  time.  349 
Over  the  river  they  beckon —  324 
Poor,  little,  pretty,  fluttering..  168 
Read  Nature:  Nature  is  the...  154 
Sad  were  the  life  we  may  part.  145 
Say,  can  the  soul;  possessed..  292 

Seize  mortal !  seize  the 349 

Shall  I  be  left  forgotten  in ;U>4 

She  sparkled,  was  exhaled 347 

So  gnaws  the  grief  of 317 

391 


392 


INDEX   OF    POETIC   QUOTATIONS. 


Souls  are  her  charge,  to  her...  350 

Spirit,  thy  labor  is  o'er 363 

Stupendous  link  in  Nature's...  180 

Talk  they  of  morals 376 

The  chain  of  being  is 183 

The  darkest  of  enigmas 302 

The  gentle  interlude,  of 205 

The  great  Jehovah  from 323 

The  isles  of  the  blessed,  they..  170 
The  mourner  is  blessed  by  his.  .",r,fi 

The  soul,  secure  in  her 257 

The  soul  of  man,  Jehovah's...  352 
The  soul  that  thou  hast  loved.  368 

The  star  that  sets 157 

The  sun  is  but  a  spark  of  fire.  373 

The  worm  that  never  dies 398 

Then  0  my  soul,  depend  no...  364 
Then  shall  the  soul  around....  276 
There  all  the  ship's  company..  366 
There  is  a  death  whose  pang..  375 

There  is  no  death,  what 58 

There  is  no  sleep,  no  grave....  62 
This  is  the  bud  of  being,  the..  347 

This  is  the  desert,  this  the 354 

Throw  thyself  on  thy  God 223 


'Tis  greatly  wise  to  talk  with.  373 

'Tis  immortality,  'tis  that 298 

'Tis  not  the  whole  of  life  to...  372 

'Twas  thus  by  the  glare  of 344 

Wayworn,  infirm  and  old 382 

We  know  when  the  silver 65 

We  shape  ourselves  the  joy  or.  .377 

Were  man  to  live  coeval  with.  287 

Weep  not,  my  Redeemer  lives.  361 

What  is  this  absorbs  me  quite.  362 

When  the  good  man  yields....  64 

When  life's  brief  changing 332 

When  on  my  new-fledged 367 

When  we  hear  the  music 359 

Where  nothing  earthly  bounds.  331 

While  God  invites,  how 378 

Who  can  paint  the  scenes  of...  368 

Who  reads  his  bosom,  reads...  258 

Whose  footsteps  these 289 

Why  should  I  shrink  at  pain..  370 

Why  should  the  gross 249 

Why,  what  is  death  but  life...  354 

Yes,  heaven  is  near  us 328 

Yet  not  thus  buried  or  extinct.  358 

Yes!  oh  yes!  in  that  land 358 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


ABORIGINES    of   Mexico,  belief   of   the. 

175.  176— of  the  Unite.!  States.  17«i. 
Abraham,  the  bosom  of,  60, 65 — meaning 

of  the  phrase.  112. 
Adam,  rn-ation  of.  „• 
Adrian.  lli<-  H'.>inaii  emperor.  ad>: 

.il,  168 — remarkable  nu-mnrv 

Age,  in   itself,  no  impediment   to  con- 
tinued mental  improvement.  297. 
Altemont,  terrible  death  ot. 
Analogy  of  Nature  against  annihilation. 

Angels,  purely  spiritual  being-.  19 —  im- 
plk-d  annihilation  of.  14t — nut  hin- 
dered in  night   bv   mate! 
cles,  l'.<4. 

Annihilation  of  Souls  alleged,  131—  al- 
surdity  of  the  docti:. 
objections  to  the  doc-trine  of,  136-140 
— of  Angels,  144. 

Annihilation  of  matter,  possible  with 
God.  245 — never  has  taken  place, 
216 — analogy  of  nature  against  it. 
249— denied  in  the  Script i. 

Animals,  domestic,  improvement 

Antiochus  Epiphanes,  crueltv  and  re- 
morse of.  30  J — terrible  death  of.  ."In. 

Arabs,  belief  of  in  the  soul's  immor- 
tality. 175. 

Ascension  to  heaven,  order  of  th- 
ins, ancient,  belief  of  in  the  soul's 
immortality,  164. 

Kainham,  James,  triumphant  death  of. 

Bee,  the  honey,  illustration  from,  273. 
Beecher,  Rev.  Henry  AVard,  remarks  of 

upon  growing  old.  I"1*"),  note. 
Beetle    in    Japan,    remarkable   t! 

mation  of,  334. 
8,  death  of.  4;. 

Beattie.  poem  by.  "  [He  hermit,"  344. 
H'liufort.  Admiral.  remarkable  case  of, 

Il-.'lsliiZ7.ar.  i  •  ir  of.  508. 

Besus.  remorse  of  con^-i'-iica  of.  312. 
Bible,  and  science  iii  harmony.  148 — 

Pollok's  description  of  the.':;45. 
Billiin.  a.  inconceivable  number,  in  348 

—note. 


Birdlets  in  the  shell,  330— description 
of  by  Dr.  Todd.  331— note. 

Birmans.  belief  of  in  a  future  state, 
173. 

Blind   persons,  remarkable  perceptions 

•  >f. s 

Boorhaave,  death  of.  i".4. 

Brain,  the.   not    the  mind,  analysis   of. 

— may  be  diseased,  or  to  a 

great  extent  removed,  and  not  affect 

the  intellect.  216 — illustrative  cases 

cited.  217.  21 S. 

Body  of  ma:i.  .  47.  48 — dead 

without  the  spirit.  01 — not  the  soul, 
•Jo:.;.  241 — lii.-solutiou  of  no  proof 
that  th.'  mind  perisho*  with  it.  239 
—its  elements  imle-truct,! 
change.-  in  the  from  childhood  to 
manhood — mutilations  of  the  do 
not  aftect  the  integrity  of  the  mind, 
240  —  completely  changed  every 
•:i  years.  ifciW — emaciation  and 
':<>n  of  d->es  n-.it  change  the 
mind,  241 — no  conscious  identity  of 
from  youth  to  old  age.  ikirl — per- 
tection  of.  185  —  Professors  Owen, 
and  AgasH'z.  and  Hugh  Miller  upon 
tile,  1*0 — remark  of  Lavater,  187 
-^  alone  adapted  to  the  powers 
of  the  soul  of  man,  187,  188 — 
Dominion  of  the  soul  over.  193 — 
Conscious  occupancy  of  by  the 
spirit.  195 — Conscious  control  over 
by  the  soul,  196 — a  mere  instrument 
of  the  Saul.  196  —  quotation  from 
Butler  respecting.  luS  —  Develop- 
ment of.  2ii.j — vigor  of  the.  when 

Breath,  th*.  not  the  soul.  75-77. 
Burning  up.  not  annihilation,  133, 136. 
Bush.   Professor,  quotations   from.  319, 

Butler,  Bishop,  extracts  from.  242. 
Butterfly,  met.iniorpiio-ii  ••!.  ami  address 
to,  33.-,. 

Cato,  anecdote    of.   I(i7 — citation    from 

Camel,  stomach  of,  illustration  from 
the.  27.'! — extract  respecting,  note, 
ibid. 

oqp 


394: 


(iENEKAL    INDEX. 


Catalepsy,  remarkable  case  of,  225  — 
proof  of  the  independency  of  tin- 
mind  of  the  bod}',  ibid — cases  of 

1'eter  and  I'aul.  229. 
Caterpillars,  transformation  of,  335. 

the  ancient,  belief  of  in  the  r-oul's 

immortality,  164. 
Chain  of  animal    life,  ISO — Smellie   on 

the,   181  —  poetry    respecting,   182. 

183. 
Chalmers,    Dr..    citations    from.    218  — 

another,  respecting  insect  - 
Changes,  seldom  abrupt  in  Nature.  20 1. 
Christ,   soul    of.   where   while    his    body 

was     in     the     grave,     114,    115 — the 

sinner's    only    hope.    ."75 — salvation 

only    through    faith   in     hi.s    blood, 

Chickasaw  Indians,  belief  of  in  a  future 

.  176. 

Cicero.  Mangel  from,  163,  167,  177. 
292. 

Clark.  Kishop,  reference  to  his  recent 
book. 

Clarke.  Dr.  Adam,  on  the  burial  of  ' 
.lacob.  51. 

C!.i-Mlication  of  material  substances, 
how  effected.  13. 

Co.il.  decomposition  of.  not  its  annihila- 
tion, 23f». 

foleridg".  remarkable  dream  of.  22'1. 

Collins.  Mi.-s  Mary,  case  of.  211. 

Caloric,  materiality  of,  13.    . 

Comets,  return  of.  Kin. 

Conscience,  definitions  of.  307 — poetic 
description  ,,(',  ;;os  —  power  of  to 
make  the  guilty  wretched,  308-319 
— bearing  of  upon  the  question 
of  a  future  state.  320 — restitution 
under  the  power  of,  314-316 — re- 
morse of  llobbes.  312 — (8M  Ite- 
moree.) 

Consolation  for  the  bereft,  354. 

••Con-iiin"d,"  not  equivalent  to  annihi- 
lated. 133. 

Coinersion  of  the  writer,  means  by 
which  brought  about.  379.  note. 

Count  Lavalb-tte.  am 

Cranmer,  triumphant  death  ot.  232. 

Creation  of  man.  proee*.-  of  the. 

Cyrus,  remarkable  memory  of,  2oo. 

David,  hope  of,  356 — "  not  yet  ascended 

into   heaven." — meaning  of  the  ,.\. 

N  ,  116. 

Day  and  Night,  phenom-na  - 
Dahomey,   belief  of  the   inhabitants   of. 

174. 
Death,  the   nature  of.  42 — a    giving    up 

of  the  ghost.  44 — a"putti:i. 

this     tabernacle,"    17—  -a    • 

49  —  not    a   lit-rnl 

view*    of    Doluie\    re.-pecting.    121  — 

not  anniltflfttion,  126-130— «  penalty 

for  sin,  12.>. 
Death.  triuni|ili  over.  232.23.1 — I'oh  c, ,?•]•. 

.lohn  HIIS-.  .,'• 

mer   and   Lambert.  232— Mr.  Ormcs, 

James    Bninhaiu.  and  Mr.   llawke.. 


234 — Rev.  Alanion  Reed,  Boerhaave, 
Rev.   Mr.    llalyburtun.  Dr. 
234— Dr.  William  Fiske.  235. 

Death,   desire   to    be   remembered  after, 
•  —followed   by  immediate  glory, 
r.."),  72.  S'J,  94 — natural   emblei. 
:«0-338. 

Dead,  the  over  continued  love  for,  322 — 
still  bring,  354— if  Christians,  at 
r"-t. 

Decay  of  the  intellect  in  old  age,  how 
accounted  for,  204. 

Deist,  an  aged,  anecdote  of,  151 — errors 
of  the.  149, 150. 

Dempster,  Rev.  John,  D.  D.,  brief  passage 
•.  ",47. 

I),  \'ii,i-/ntf,  of  Cicero,  quotation  from, 
181. 

.  the  nature  of  our,  a  proof  of  im- 
mortality, 2'.»I — to  be  remember. -d 
after  death.  298. 

"Destroyed."  not  equivalent  to  annihi- 
lat.-d,  l:',2. 

Devils,  immortality  of,  20. 

Dick,  Dr.  Thomas,  views  of,  252 — quota- 
tions from.  147.  164.  165,  172,  179, 
299,  319-:;-Jl. 

Diodoret,    opinion     of    respecting     the 
-.  212.  note. 

Discontent   of  man,  a  proof  of  a  future 

Dobney.  views  of  respecting  the  nature 
Of  d-ath,  121. 

Ing,  rapidity  of  thought  in,  280, 

2S1— proof  of  tin-  independent  ex- 
istence of  the  soul,  224 — examples 
of.  22^.  223, 

Drew,  Siuniel.  reference  to,  247,  253 — 
quotations  from.  2.">f>. 

Drowning,  activity  of  the  mind  in.  229— 
case  of  Admiral  Beaufort. 

Druids,  the  ancient,  l.eii. -I  of  iv.-ppcting 
tin-  immortality  of  the  soul,  164. 

••  Dust,"  Cen.  iii.  19,  does  not  include  the 
soul.  42.  43. 

Dwarf,  an  Indian,  remarkable  intelli- 
gence of.  207. 

Kgyptians.  the  ancient,  belief  of  in  a 
future  state.  164. 

Klectricity.  materiality  of.  13 — distinct 
frnm  the  substance  in  which  it 
dwells.  22— body  charged  with,  239. 

Klias.  appearing  ot.  upon  Mount  Tal»  r, 
63. 

Kllis.  opinions  of,  122 — a  materialist.  123. 

K--I-IICI-.  th".  belief  of  in  the  soul's  im- 
mortality, .'ill. 

Kternity.  compared  with  time.  346-360. 

Farewell  of  the  Soul  to  the  Kody.  62. 
Fella.    M..  th-   painter   without   hands, 

210. 

Fish,  without  < ;. 
Ki--k.  Dr.  \\ilbur.  triumphant  death  of, 

Frien.llN  Islands,  belief  of  the  inhabi- 
tant* of  in  the  soul'*  immortality, 
172. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


395 


Fruits  and  flowers,  improvement  of,  by 

cultivation,  193. 

Furman.  Mr.  S.  K..  poem  by.  3S1. 
Future  Punishment,  proposed  wish  upon, 

380,  note. 

Gabriel,  not  hindered  in  flight  by  mate- 
rial obstacles,  194. 

Gallas.  of  Abyssinia,  belief  of  in  the 
soul's  immortality.  174. 

Ghost,  the  giving  up  of.  44. 

God,  a  Spirit  without  body,  18 — omni- 
presence of,  18, 19 — the  God  of  the 
dead,  57. 

Good.  Dr.  John  Mason,  remarks  of  upon 
.bject  of  sleep. 

Graham  Lectures,  by  Dr.  Storrs,  quoted, 

Gray's  Philosophy,  extract  from,  24'j. 
Greeks,  tin-  ancient,  belief 

the  soul'.-,  immortality,  164. 

•.  meaning  of  the  term,  106 — Jose- 
phus"  description  of.  lOv-111. 

lialler,  triumphant  death  of.  234. 

Halyburton.  happy  d 

Hawkes,  happy  death  of,  233. 

Heaven,  purity   of.  375 — order  of  ascen- 
sion  to,  9S — hope  of  a  support   in 
•j:1,:, — recognition   of   friends 
in.  326.     (See  l\>'r  • 

11.  iv,  iiiy  world,  proposed  work  upon, 
note. 

Helffenstein,  quotation  from.  151,  note. 

Henry  IV.,  remorse  of.  310. 

Herbert.  Lord,  creed  of  referred  to. 
150. 

Herod  the  Great,  miserable  death  of. 
310 — remark  of  Augustus  respect- 
ing, 300.  note — remorse  of,  313. 

Herschell.  William,  constructing  tele- 
scopes, 295. 

Herschell,  Sir  John,  remarkable  dreams 
of.  223. 

Hicks.  Albert  W..  confession  of  as  to  his 
remorse  of  consciei;* 

:,orse  of,  312. 

Hobart,  Bishop,  quotation  from  respect- 
ing the  import  of  the  tern. 
81. 

Homer.  Iliad  and  Odyssey  of,  both  teach 
the  doctrine  of  the  soul's  immor- 
tality, 169. 

bee.  illustration  from  the.  273. 

Hope,  a  proof  of  man's  immortality.  301 
— of  heaven,  a  support  in  d 

Hopkins,   President,    extract    from    re- 

••  iption  of  th' . 
v.  Bishop,  quotation  from  i 
ing  the  Intermediate  .-tate,  61. 

.  Mr.  ('.  K.  views  of  respecting 
the  soul,  123. 
Hunter,    John,    remarkable    cataleptic 

case  of,  230. 
iluss.  John,  triumphant  death  of.  232. 

Jliad  of  Homer,  teaches  the  doctrine  of 
the  soul's  immortality.  169. 


Immortal  Longings,  a  poem,  383. 

Immortality,   natural,    254 — Dr.   Good's 
;.  note — Rational   Evi- 
-  of  denned,  147 — not  a  result 
of  faith  in  Christ.  121— nor  of  re- 
demption. 254 — the  desire  of  a  proof 
of  another  life.  304-306. 

Indian  dwarf,  intelligence  of.  207. 

Indians  of  North  America,  belief  of  in  a 
future  state.  17'J. 

Insect-,  transmutations  of,  336. 

Instinct,  distinct  from   reason,  2S5 — II- 

lustration.- 

;  Inten::  xtrart  from  Bishop 

Horsley  respecting.  61— necessarily 
different  from  the  final,  90 — an  ab- 
normal condition,  97 — not  the  final 

• 

ward  or  punishment.  1UO — implied 
in  description  of  the  judgment.  103 
—taught  by  Christ,  103-lOy— views 
of  Jews  respecting  the,  109-111 — 
writers  respect- 
ing. 96,  99. 

Intuition,  explanation  of  the  term.  277. 

Jacob,  burial  of,  51. 

Japan,  curious  beetle  iu,  334. 

Japanese  and  Javanese,  belief  of  respect- 

'        ing  a  future  state.  174,  175. 
'  Jerome  of  Prague,  triumphant  death  of, 
232. 

Jew>.  belief  of  in  the  soul's  immortality, 
57 — views  of  different  sects  of  repre- 
Sf nting  an  intermediate  state,  109- 
111. 

Josephus.  Flavins,  extracts  from  con- 
cerning Hades,  55,  109,  110. 

Judgment,  descriptions  of  the  dav  of, 
ML 

Kalmuc    Tartars,    belief  of   respecting 

another  lif 
Knowledge,  our  thirst  for,  a  proof  of  our 

immortal  destination,  294. 

Lambert,  happy  death  of,  232. 

Lazarus,  carried  to  "  Abraham's  bosom," 

Lectures.  Graham's,  quoted.  296-298. 
Lee,  Dr.   Luther,  quoted,  16,  note,  236, 

240 — note  re-pectiug  his  work,  253. 
-  from  Natural  phenomena,  154. 
Le  Verrier,  discovery  of  a  New  Planet 

by.   326.   illustration    drawn    from, 

Leyden.   Dr..    remarkable    memory    of, 

Life,  evolved  from   death,  160 — brevity 
of.  346 — infinite  value  of,  348 — rela- 
tion of  to  eternity.  374. 
:nateriality  of,  13. 

Li,  .  the  water,  an  emblem  of  immor- 
tality. 333. 

Lord  Herbert,  opinions  of  noticed,  150. 

Love.  Rev.  0..  happy  death  of,  67. 

Love  for  the  dead,  321-329. 

the  "  MYCII  year.''  transforma- 
tion of,  334. 


S96 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


Magnetism,  matpriality  of.  13— invisi- 
bility of.  250. 

Man, two-fold  natnr  tion  of, 

2iJ-2> — imper  iir  inter- 

media T-  7— iii.t  fully  rc- 

\vnr.li-il  or  puui-li'-d  til!  lh 

lation  t»  brutes. 

2><!> — hit  nm  his  immor- 

conftned 

•  -rial  pursuit.  2!»0,  '291— a  ini- 

.:i.  lv_>— body  of.  we"  Body." 

Miinkiml.  general  belief  of,  touching  the 

soul's  imnioi'tnlit'. . 

Martyrs,  hopes  of  in'  death.  67.  M'.t.  ;i2— 
triumph. int  1 

•xtnict  from,  on  the 
study  of  Xaturul  Theolo^-. . 

Mutter,  tin-  term  defined.  11— extent  of 
our  knowledge  of.  ibid — difference 
in  the  ultimo  .  11,  VI — 

;'.  v_~— how  eias- 
silii'd.  i:; — how  identified. 
14 — (!;••  .>in  spirit  in  the 

Scriptures,  l^--ji— eivated  to  minN- 
tcr  to  flu1  hrippin-ss  of -niritual  life. 
194— indestructibility  of,  2i5— God 
i':nilil  annihilate,  ibii! — never  did  nor 
will.  2  •liinibility 

of.  liow  tested,  iil. 

Materialists,  disagreement  amon. 

the   alleged  annihilation   of   sou;-, 

i-"i. 

Memory,  capability  of  cultivation,  258— 

of    Hortensiiis,   au    Indian 

Seipio.     Miiliridates,     Char- 
nicade-i.    Mo,  .    Thomas 

Fuller,    and    .-ir    '.'. '•liter    Scott,    -J.M 
— of  Sydney  Smith,   Prof.  — oj     I',.; 
son,  Dr.   Leydeu  and   Woodfall.  -HI 
— of    Pascal,   a    Mind    jVotchman, 
Adrian,  and  Nap..! i.-'.'J — of  Dow- 
land,  a  lawyer,  'Jf4 — not  IP 
affected  liy  dislam-e   of  ti 
quickened  hy  sudden  peril.  -'ii« — in 
drowning,   20:i — by    fever,    :!70 — its 
resiirreetion  a  well 
-7- — one    of    the    ''books"    of    the 
judgment,  ?'/)>/— illustration   of  the 
._•  of,  in  the  argument,  'J7o--7"i. 

Mental  action,  rapidity  of,  277-284 — re- 
mark i  ft  mental  multi- 
plication, 279. 

Mithridates.iviiiarkal.le  me'iior\ 

Methuselah,  legend  of  the  Kal.bins  i-e- 
•i^',  349. 

Microcosm,  man  a,  182. 

Mind,    progress    of  the.    in    knov. 
after  the  body  bccinN  to  ;. 

. 

not  dependent  upon  a  healthy  brain, 
•J.Yr>  —  indestructible  liy  material 
ageni 

Mitchel.  .lames,  remarkalde    ability    of 
;s.  209. 

Modi  v'i  nation-.  Bel  'if;  tlic 

i  -.  immortality,  172-17'p. 

Moon,   chatv-  n.   tlie, 

lit. 


Morgagni    and    Haller,  statements    of 

concerning  the  brain.  217. 

ippearinp  of  on  Mount  Tabor,  63. 
Mozart,  requiem  and  death  of,  362. 

Hi.  remarkable  memory  of.  Uii2. 
Nature,  phei:  in,  154 

-161. 

Natural  Theology,  relation  of  to  i •.-• 

truth.  1-17-1&3— importance  oi.  Uv 

152 — 'See  Theolei 
Nerves,  of  tb  >-   the 

brain.  21  ">. 
Xewton.  Sir  Isaac,  remarks  of  concerning 

his  discoveries  and  attainment - 
New  ;~.  ting  a 

future  life,  172. 

v  of  Homer,  teaches  the  immor- 

"  t.il'ity  of  the  soul,  169. 
Officer,  a  young  British,  case  of,  215,  note. 
O'Halloran,  remarkable  case  of  relVm-d 

to.  217. 

Orme-.  Mrs.rerelia,  happy  doath  of,  233. 
ild,  Rev.  John  Frederic,  extract 
from.  171.  note. 
Ox.  contentment  of  the,  300. 
Ovid,  taught  the  soul's  immortality,  169. 

P.",ine.  Thomas,  monument  and  hope  of, 

Paradise,  what  and  where.  59— Lazarus 
in,  60 — glorv  and  happiness  of,  118, 
119. 

Patagonians.  belief  of  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul.  175. 

:.  r  'inarktible  memory  of.  263. 

Paul.  St..  caught  up  to  Paradise.  _ 
Ilev.  Or.,  happy  deatli   of    - 

Pelew  I-i;u:,l-.  belief  of  the  inhabitant* 
of  the.  172. 

••  Peri-lied."  meaning  of  the  term,  87 — 
•lival'-nt  to  annihil;.: 

Per-onal   identity.  1,  I,  142. 

T'ei>ian-.  the  ancient,  belief  of  in  a  future 
state,  l.i! — Plienicians.  H,i,J. 

Plvri-ees.  belief  of  in  the  sonl's  immor- 
tality, 6.')— St.  Paid   belonged  to  the 
of  the.  56. 
•itatioii  from  the.  1' 

Philosophy,  teachings  of.  17 — Extracts 
from  ti  ray's  Natural.  24ti. 

Pine  tree,  an  emblem  of  immortality.  332. 

Pind.ir.  ode  ..i.  170. 

Plato.  i|i]otatioii  from.  ins. 

Poet I'l .  '  -lions,) 

801. 

Polycarp.  triumphant  death  of,  232. 

Poi -on.   Profe--..r,  remarkable    memory 

Priest.  ^1  i.  »iii  by,  324. 

.  closing  the 
volume.  ::~x. 

;.    glorious,    before     the    dying 
I'hristian.  3».l-371. 
Psyelie.  import  of  the  term.  334. 
Piinishmeui.  I'utiire.  deg:-e.-<  of.   l:'.7—  to 
i  !n  --    prop,,-,.  I     work 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


397 


Rabbins,  legend  of  the  respecting  Methu- 
selah. 

Rational  evidences  of  Immortality,  de- 
if  the.  149-152— 

Reason  and  Nature.  in«n" 

- 
to  be  understood.  "It'i. 

Recognition,. 

of.  351. 

Reed.  Rev.  Aliin-.ui.  hippy  death  < if. '-': '.4 . 
Relation  of  imin  to  the  lower  animal*. 

18&-182. 
Religion.  Natural,  nut  a  primary 

tion.  I'i2— not    s:iti-: 

lation  .it  t..  revealed.  147 

Religion,  revealed,  perfection   and  ulorv 

ATitioclms    Kpipli 

of  llrrod.  ><aleriu»  Maximiann.-. 
Philip  ITT.  of  Spain: 
France,  and  Henry  lV..:;iil— of  King 
Richard  III..  :.;il  —  of  .lox.-ph's 
brethren.  :ii:i  —  ..f  other.-.  316— of 
Albert  \V.  Hicks.  :;K-  - 

Restitutions,  under   the   power  of  can- 

:  •-.  :.;i4--nii. 

Resurrection  1  work 

upon  the.  •''*'"> — order  of  th 
scription  of  the.  105. 

Keverii1.  d.-tinition  of  the  term,  21'.' — ex- 
amples   of.    Hittellhouse.    Yiote,    Mil- 

rini.  i 
Richard  III.,  remois"  of.  "ill. 

Mr.  TV  T..  |Mii'iu  liy.  . 

Roman*,  the  ancieu;.  l"-:n-i  of  in  a  future 
.  164. 

Sadducee-'.  doctrine  of  the.  "16. 

Safford,    Henry    T..    wonderful    mental 

achievements  of.  - 

the    i-oiiN    of.    to    return    with 

Christ.  70.  71. 
.Salvation,  only  through  faith  in   Christ. 

378. 
Samoidians.  the  ancient,  belief  of  in   a 

future  state.  17:',. 

Saii-onre.  renmrkaMf  e»-e  of.  -Jltj. 
Scandinavian!*,  the  ancient  belief  of  in 

the  soul's  immortality.  17o. 
Scipio.  Lucius,  remarkable   memory   of. 

••and  the  liible.  harm»u\  between. 
148. 

Sir   Walter,  remarkable   memory 

Scytln.     t,  •  nt.    belief  of  in    a 

future  state.  1'U. 
! 

Seneca,   doubts  of  respecting  a  future 

i.~j2— mutations  from.  111:'.. 
Sheol,  meaninp  of  the  t. mi.  Mil.  11."). 
Ship*,  squadron  "f.  illu^fatioii  from.  1">4. 


Sin,  tho  penalty  of  not  annihilation,  139. 

Sleep,    description    of,    and    quotations 

from   I  .   _*•_'! — of 

ni   P-ishop  Ih^ 

t'mit-i. 

i.ope  of.  I'll — quota- 
tions from. 

';. .  ±2— not  all 
—not  created  for 

away  ''  at    ileath.  46 — mrewel]  of   to 

ill"    boily.     5 

of  bi-tweeli  death  and  tin 

tion.  ."it— cannot  be  kiile.'. 

with  Christ  after  death,  iln'il — alle^-d 

SI — p;.  11  death  and  the 

'    during 
—  alleged 

annihilation    of.   li'l — Adritm'- 

-  .t   of   the 

body,  ISf — its  dignity  inl't-nible  from 

the  p.-rfeetioll  of    t)|e  l,i,d\. 

minion  ofover  the  body.  l'.>:j — energy 

of   '.-  v;int 

•inimpa.irt'i]  un- 

ilvr  bodily  mutilations.  J14 — energy 

of  in  the  hour  of  death.  'J".2 — con- 

;~  iilentity  of  from  childhood  to 

ob!  -epathy  of  with  tie: 

iaJity  of  the.  '.'.".o 

powers  of.  -J.riit — capabilities  of  im- 
provement.  '.!*:,-:.".  1 1 — vast    acliievi^- 
meiits.  ihiil.  and  -*7--V.' — poetic  de- 
scriprion  of  the  value  of. 
Society   Islander?,   belief  of  in  a  future 

.  !7± 

Spinal  marrow,  a  continuation  of  the 
brain,  and  of  the  same  Piib>tance, 
210. 

Spirit.   ;  '.  l."> — distinct   from 

.  16 — eapabli 

-'_' — distiniruislu'd  from   the 
body  in  the   - 

downward.  44.  8'J — triumph  of  ovtr 
matter  and  power  to  pa>s   matt-rial 
barriers.   194 — di.-embodied.    we    no 
practical  acquaintance  \v>' 
- 

.Spiritual  -  of,  21. 

Squadron  of  ships,  illustration  from  M. 
l.V!. 

the  Tntei-mwliate.  94— (Si-.-   Int-.r- 

•  ••-ppotiiijr   thn 
naturi.-  of  the  s(.isl.  122. 

IM-.  Richard  S.,  quotation-  from 
his  (Jraliaiii's  Lectures.  . 
Summary  of  the  argument.  340. 

Tartini.  i-einarkiible  dream  of.  222. 

: ..  triumphant  death  of.  07. 
Tenii:'iit.  Ki'V.  Win.,  trance  of.  22/>. 
The   l)ea-l.  our  continued  love  for,  ".22. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


Theology,  natural,  remarks  of  Dr.  Mason 
•  i  iifT.  148 — two  errors  respect- 
ing, 14'.}-152 — relation  to  revealed 
religion,  152. 

The  righteous,  happiness  of  in  heaven. 

Thought,  rapidity  of.  277— in  adding  up 

•in  niultiph 
_:•<— in  dn-amin.s:. -'- 
:  apparent  drownh. 

flights  of  tin-  imairinati" 
Tiber; 

Tilton.  Theodore,  extract.-  fnun.  2C,».  272. 
Time,  as    compared  with   Eternity.  :V4t>- 

350. 
Traduction  of  souls  explained.  \'. 

and  Luther's  views  of  the.  37-41. 
Transfiguration  of  Christ,  63. 
Tupper,  views  of  respecting  the  grounds 

of  our  immortality,  -54. 
Turner's  Sacred   History,  extract  from, 

337. 


!  Unconverted  readers,  appeal  to,  372. 
Universe,  first  grand  division  of  the,  16. 
Uranus,  perturbations  of.  327. 

Valedictory,  the  Old  Man's.  381. 

'•omparative.  of  things  temporal 
and  eternal.  350. 
Virgil,  taught   the   immortality   of  the 

.iiilni.  extract  from  on  the  origin 

8-41. 
White,  Henry  Kirk,  experience  of,  344. 

Worm,  the  undying,  .'76. 

YiKatanese.  belief  of  in  the  soul's  im- 
mortality, 175. 

Zamiff,  origin  and  meaning  of  the  term, 
247,  note. 


